Standards and guidance

You must meet the standards and follow the guidance listed below when conducting user research at Defra.

External user research standards

The baseline standards for user research at Defra.

• Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct
• User research - Service Manual - GOV.UK

Ethical and safe research

How to plan and run research that protects participants and researchers.

• Ethics and safeguarding in user research
• Safety risk assessments for user research

Consent and participant data protection

How you must inform participants and manage their data.

• Informed consent and privacy notices
• Informed consent template (Word)
• Informed consent template (Qualtrics)
• Using contact details for research recruitment
• Participant data handling
• Participant data storage and retention

GDS Service Standard and assessments

All Defra services must meet the GDS Service Standard. User researchers provide the evidence that shows how services meet user needs.

• Service Standard - Service Manual - GOV.UK
• Service Standard and assessments at Defra

Pre-election restrictions and approvals

Additional controls that apply during pre-election periods.

• User research during pre-election periods
• User research pre-election approval form

Get support

Contact the user research operations team or the Defra data protection team for further support.

• User research operations: DefraDDTSUserResearchOperations@defra.gov.uk
• Data protection: Data.protection@defra.gov.uk