As used in these Research Terms, “we,” “us” and “our” refer collectively to smallbusinesstrendsresearch.com and its Affiliates and Brands; “you,” “your,” or “Respondent” refers to Research respondents or participants or individuals attempting to participate in Research. “Brand” refers to brand labels or brand websites which we manage and control to maintain the relevancy of our Research – Small Business Trends Research is our Brand. “Affiliates” are companies that are controlled or owned by us, or companies that control us, or are under common control with us, or manage us or or our brand label. These Research Terms and Conditions (“Research Terms”) govern your participation in our surveys (“Surveys”), interviews (“Interviews”), focus groups (“Focus Groups”) and/or other market research activities (Surveys, Interviews, Focus Groups and all other market research activities are referred to collectively herein as “Research”) which are administered online (i.e. via the internet, through websites or other portals), in person, via telephone, texts, video and/or any other electronic media and/or formats, on behalf of our clients (“Clients”). Please read these Research Terms carefully and be sure you understand them prior to participating in the Research. These Research Terms, including all documents referenced herein, represent the entire understanding and agreement between us concerning your participation in the Research. By participating in the Research, you have consented to these Research Terms.

From time to time, these Research Terms may change. We reserve the right to modify these Research Terms without prior or any individual notice. Please review these Research Terms whenever you are invited to participate in the Research so that you will understand our current policies. The “last updated” date that appears at the top of this page indicates the last date the Research Terms were modified.

Participation in the Research may be online (through websites), in person, via telephone, texts, video and/or other electronic media and/or formats. Our websites are operated out of the United States of America and are governed by Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policies that are linked from them.

Participation in the Research is subject to all applicable laws and regulations. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the Research. To the extent that access to, distribution and/or participation in the Research would be deemed illegal by applicable law, such access, distribution and/or participation is prohibited. Similarly, to the extent your participation in the Research would result in a violation of your obligations to past or present employers or any other third party, such participation is prohibited. If you participate in the Research, you are deemed to have confirmed your acceptance of these Research Terms. If you do not agree to abide by these Research Terms, please do not participate in the Research.

By participating in the Research, you affirm, represent and warrant that: (a) you are 18 years of age or older; (b) your participation in the Research is voluntary; (c) all information you submit in connection with the Research shall be truthful and accurate (and you will maintain the accuracy of such information); (d) you will abide by these Research Terms; (e) your participation shall not otherwise violate any applicable policy, contractual obligation, law, rule or regulation; and (f) your written and verbal communications and correspondence with us will be non-harassing and non-abusive.

Materials used in the Research, including but not limited to Surveys and Survey and Interview questions, Research methodologies, sound recordings, videographic recordings, images, reports, trademarks, compilations, and graphics (collectively referred to as the “Materials”), are protected under various privacy and intellectual property laws and owned or controlled by us or our Affiliates, or are used with permission of the owner(s) of such Materials. The display of Materials in the Research does not imply that a license of any kind has been granted to you.

Except as otherwise indicated in the Research, copying, reproducing, uploading, downloading, screen-shooting, transmitting or any other use of the Materials, in whole or part, without our express written permission, is prohibited. Any unauthorized access to, use or copying of the Materials may subject you to liability under applicable law, and may result in legal action.

Personal Information means information that uniquely identifies, relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to you, such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number. By voluntarily participating in the Research, you may be asked to provide us with your Personal Information. Any Personal Information you provide during the Research shall be used, shared, and processed according to these Research Terms and our Privacy Policy. The following additional terms supplement the Privacy Policy and only apply to the processing of your Personal Information when you voluntarily participate in Research activities.

For information about how to exercise any privacy rights that may be afforded to you, please see our Privacy Policy or contact us using one of the methods described in the Contact Us section in these Research Terms. Remember, your participation in our Research is entirely voluntary, and you may opt out of participating in the Research or future Research at any time.

• IP Address and Other Computer-Related Information: An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your internet service provider when you log on. When you voluntarily agree to participate in Research and you provide your e-mail address and telephone number, your IP address is linked to your Personal Information and Research responses. We (and third party platform website hosts) use IP addresses for a number of purposes including but not limited to: (i) de-duplicating Surveys; (ii) reviewing Survey responses, (iii) identifying individuals who have attempted to enter or take a Survey multiple times; (iv) maintaining Interview and other Research information; (v) maintaining invitations; and (v) identifying individuals who threaten our website(s) or Affiliates, other Respondents or representatives, third party platform hosts or other host website users or visitors. IP addresses may also be used to help diagnose problems with our websites.
• Research Responses: When you accept an invitation to participate in the Research, we may ask you for various types of information including, but not limited to basic demographic information such as your gender, date of birth, education level, employment status, the job or position you hold and/or the field in which you are employed, decisions you have made both professionally and personally, your income, your marital status, whether you own a home, your political views, and other types of information. We may also ask you a variety of other types of questions relating to your personal and/or professional life, including but not limited to purchasing decisions and behaviors, general market questions, and other questions relevant to the objectives of the Research.

We will not intentionally request any confidential or proprietary information (collectively, “Confidential Information”), and you agree not to disclose any Confidential Information in your Survey responses. Confidential Information is any nonpublic information that is not yours to share or disclose as well as any information that is “sensitive” to you or your employees/employers/clients/vendors or others with whom you have a fiduciary or professional relationship or obligation of non-disclosure. For example, Confidential Information includes but is not limited to personal information specifying your or any other person’s medical or health conditions, information related to your business or profession that must be maintained in confidence, client communications, trade secrets, non-public financial or compensation information, terms of contracts with customers or vendors, “insider” information concerning securities, specific or unique formulas and/or strategies utilized in or by your business or employer, and/or information that you are contractually bound not to disclose.

However, it is ultimately your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of such information; if a question is asked that you believe will elicit confidential information, do not answer that question or otherwise provide a response. If you are being interviewed as part of your participation in the Research, you should notify the Interviewer at that time that a question you have been asked may elicit Confidential Information (“Notice of Concern”).

If you are participating in Research that calls for a response which you believe will elicit Confidential Information, please cease your participation and immediately notify us of your concern via the FAQ page. We will then review your concern. After reviewing your concern, we will determine, in our ole and absolute discretion, whether you will remain eligible to receive an honorarium, if offered, for your participation up to the point at which you ceased responding to Survey questions.

We use your Personal Information to administer the Research, and for the other purposes set forth in these Research Terms and our Privacy Policy.

Except as otherwise set out in these Research Terms and/or our Privacy Policy, we do not and will not sell, lease, rent or provide your Personal Information to third parties (other than vendors that perform services on our behalf), including our Clients, for commercial or marketing purposes unless we obtain your prior express consent.

However, as part of our work for our Clients, we may provide your de-identified responses information and data to our Clients (“Anonymous Data”). Anonymous Data may include any and/or all data or information entered or shared by Respondent on any Research response that does not qualify as Personal Information, or from which the identity of an individual cannot reasonably be identified (for example, de-identified and/or aggregated data). For the avoidance of doubt, any data entered into open ended responses (i.e. responses that allow you to enter in a full sentence or other types of custom data), may be provided to Clients in the exact form you’ve entered the date, and it is your responsibility to ensure that no Confidential Information and/or Personal Information is entered in these open-ended questions during the Research.

Additionally, as a part of the quality control process, we may link Personal Information that you have provided to us with other Personal Information, including, but not limited to, your publicly available social media profiles and company bios (“Public Data”), and review the combined Personal Information (collectively, “Relationship Data”) for the purpose of validating the quality and integrity of your Research responses, verifying your identity, and any other Research or related purposes, such as, but not limited to, informing you of other Research opportunities. We may retain Relationship Data as required by law or other purposes but will not provide it to Clients unless we receive your express consent to do so.

Please note that we may use any and all information provided by you during any form of Research independent of your receipt of an honorarium – as outlined below – unless you contact us in writing and request the deletion of such information. For the avoidance of doubt, this would apply EVEN IF you are not deemed as having ‘participated’ (as defined below); or if you are ‘disqualified’; or if you ‘cease your voluntary participation’ in any Research before its completion. .

Invitations to and participation in Research is voluntary and by invitation only. “Participation” for purposes of determining such matters as eligibility to receive an honorarium, if offered, or the bases for being disqualified from doing so is determined and varies at different stages of the Research process, but unless we advise you otherwise, your participation commences when you accept an invitation by responding to questions posed to you in a given Research format (e.g. an invitation to answer Survey questions).

If we determine that a Respondent may be eligible to participate in Research, we will send that potential Respondent an invitation. Eligibility for an invitation to participate in Research is subject to our sole and absolute discretion. None of our employees may participate in Research absent our express invitation to do so. Only invitations that we administer and/or send will entitle an individual to become eligible to participate in Research. If you are not eligible participate in Research, you may be disqualified without notification. For the avoidance of doubt, a Respondent who receives a ‘forwarded’ invitation from any third party may be deemed ineligible.

You will be asked additional questions as part of the Research to determine whether you, in our sole and absolute discretion, meet the criteria for completing the Research (“Screening Questions”). Respondents will be deemed to have “participated” when they are deemed ineligible to complete the remaining portions of the Research by any single Screening Question, including if a Respondent is deemed ineligible to complete the Research before or after completing all Screening Questions.

If a Respondent is eligible to complete the Research based on the Respondent’s answers to the Screening Questions, Respondents will be deemed to have “participated,” for all purposes, only when they complete the entire Research. If a Respondent completes the entire Research, they may be eligible to receive an honorarium, if offered, unless they are disqualified according to these Research Terms. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Respondent is eligible to complete the Research based on the Respondent’s answers to the Screening Questions, but does not complete the entire Research, the Respondent will not be deemed as having “participated” until they complete the entire Research. In this case, the Respondent may either complete the Research using a unique link that we may provide to them, or the Respondent may re-use the link provided in their invitation to complete the Research, when this option is available and before the Research is closed to new respondents. Respondents will not be made aware of which questions are Screening Questions versus Research questions and, to maintain the integrity of the Research, we may not notify Respondents of their disqualification or ineligibility directly after the specific question that made them ineligible to complete the Research.

Respondents may be advised of an estimated time that it will take to complete the Research and/or complete Screening Questions prior to beginning the Research. However, such times may vary from the estimated time, depending upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to the Respondent, the device on which the Respondent is taking the Research, the Research itself and other factors or circumstances. We do not warrant, represent or otherwise guarantee that time estimates will be available or the amount of time it will take for a Respondent to complete the Research, and we are not liable to Respondent in any amount, manner or form if a Respondent is unable or unwilling to complete the Research or Screening Questions for any reason, including but not limited to the fact that the time it takes Respondent to complete the Research or Screening Questions exceeds any estimated time provided by us at the outset.

If you are invited, participate, and complete (i.e. answer all relevant questions) the Research, and are not otherwise deemed ineligible or disqualified, you become eligible to receive an honorarium, if offered. Respondents will ONLY be eligible for a maximum of ONE (1) gift card per Research, independent of the number of invitations issued to an individual Respondent by us or our Affiliates and regardless of the number of Research attempts or completions.

If you are invited to participate in an Interview in connection with or unrelated to other Research and you agree to and do participate, you will also be eligible to receive an honorarium, subject to the provisions in these Research Terms governing disqualification. The information you provide to us during your Interview is governed by and subject to these Research Terms and our Privacy Policy.

Respondents may be advised of the estimated time it will take to complete the Interview prior to participating. However, such times may vary, depending upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to the Respondent, the Respondent’s previous experience, the number of times the Respondent provides a Notice of Concern, and other factors or circumstances. We do not warrant, represent or otherwise guarantee the amount of time it will take for a Respondent to complete the Interview and we are not liable to a Respondent in any amount, manner or form if the Respondent is unable or unwilling to complete the Interview for any reason, including but not limited to the fact that the time it takes the Respondent to complete the interview exceeds the estimated time estimated by us at the outset of the Interview. If the Interview takes substantially less than the estimated time because, in our sole discretion, the Respondent is providing incomplete or partial responses, or the Respondent provided false or inaccurate information during any screening process or Research, unrelated to legitimate Notices of Concern regarding the disclosure of Confidential Information, the Amount of the honorarium may be reduced.

Interviews may be conducted by our employees and/or employees of Affiliate companies or Clients. Interviews are either two-way blinded, where neither the identity of the interviewer nor the identity of the interviewee (Respondent) is disclosed, or the interview may be one-way blinded, where the interviewer may disclose his/her identity, at the request of the Client. Except with respect to PSD Research (as defined below): in no instance is the Respondent required, obligated or permitted to disclose his/her identity; no Personal Information of Respondent is or should be disclosed or shared during the interview; and no Personal Information is connected or linked to the Respondent.

We reserve the right to cancel an Interview after it has been scheduled, in our discretion and for any reason. We will notify you by telephone and/or e-mail that we are canceling the Interview. If we cancel an Interview more than one (1) hour prior to its start time, you will not be eligible to receive an honorarium. If we cancel an interview within one (1) hour prior to the scheduled commencement time of the interview, you will be entitled to an honorarium valued at 25% of the Amount you were originally eligible to receive had we not cancelled the Interview within an hour of its scheduled commencement, and all your obligations to participate in the Interview will be extinguished. If you cancel your Interview, at any time, you will not be eligible to receive an honorarium, unless we agree to reschedule the Interview and you successfully complete the Interview after rescheduling. You can cancel an Interview by clicking on the “Cancel Interview” link in your electronic invitation.

If you are invited, and choose, to participate PSD Research, you acknowledge and agree that we may disclose your Personal Information to our Clients. Such Personal Information may include, without limitation: your full name, email address (personal and/or business), phone number (personal such as your cell phone and/or business), and your corresponding Research responses. You can withdraw your consent to our disclosure of this Personal Information at any time, by contacting us using the Contact Us page.

You may opt out of receiving future electronic, text, telephonic or other written communications inviting you to participate in future Research using one of two methods/approaches:

1. Declining an Invitation to Participate in Research: When we contact you inviting you to participate in our Research, you are given the opportunity to decline the invitation and opt-out of receiving future invitations related to the particular Research project to which you are invited. If you decline an invitation, we will opt you out of receiving any future electronic, text, telephonic or other written communications for that particular Research from us and/or any of our Affiliates. You may decline an invitation by clicking on/utilizing the link within the invitation you received to participate in the Research.
2. Unsubscribing: By indicating you wish to unsubscribe, we will opt you out of receiving any future electronic, text, telephonic or other written communications for any future Research from us and/or any of our Affiliates. You may unsubscribe by either clicking on the link on the bottom of the invitation you received or by using our unsubscribe form here. If you unsubscribe, we will continue to maintain your relevant contact information on our unsubscribe list to ensure that we do not send you future communications.

We may terminate your right to participate in the Research for any reason and at any time, including but not limited to after your completion of the Research and/or prior to when you initially respond to a question.

The following specific conduct may disqualify you from participating in the research and/or obtaining an honorarium, if offered:

If a Respondent attempts to participate in a Research Project more than once, the Respondent and all of Respondent’s responses may be disqualified, subject to our sole discretion. Such disqualification may occur at any point or time in the Research process, including but not limited to the point at which a Respondent seeks to claim Respondent’s honorarium, as discussed below. Respondents may receive a maximum of one gift card per Survey.

Respondents will be instantly disqualified from participating in Research if the Respondent is using bots, automated response systems, scripts, or any type of code-driven response mechanism. You will also be automatically disqualified, along with all associated responses, if you hire or retain another individual to pose as you or answer on your behalf.

A Respondent’s usage of the back button or back command on their browser and/or attempting multiple times to respond to Survey questions may disqualify the Respondent and make the Respondent ineligible and void any subsequent Research participation.

During our quality control process (explained above), if we review your Relationship Data and determine that it lacks quality and integrity or your identity cannot be verified, you may be disqualified or deemed ineligible for an honorarium.

We may, in our sole discretion, disqualify or deem a Respondent ineligible from receiving an honorarium for reasons including, but not limited to, using profane, threatening or abusive language in any of your Research responses or any communications with us, providing blank responses to open ended questions, selecting fake, false or impossible answer combinations, rushing through Surveys, clicking false answers or providing false information or ‘straight-lining’ grid questions and/or any other reason or reasons that we, in our sole discretion, deem a basis for disqualification. If you are disqualified while participating in Research, you will be shown a screen stating that you are not eligible to complete the applicable Research project. If we disqualify you after you complete the Research, we have no responsibility or obligation to notify you that you have been disqualified. If you believe you have been incorrectly or inadvertently disqualified, you can contact us using the form located at the FAQ page.

A Respondent may be deemed ineligible to continue an Interview and/or to obtain an honorarium if, in the sole subjective discretion of the interviewer, the Respondent provides false or misleading information to interview questions or is found to have provided false or misleading responses to any of the pre-screen questions or Research questions.

If you take and complete the Research and are not disqualified or deemed ineligible and/or disqualified, as explained above, we may offer you a voluntary honorarium in appreciation for your time, which may be in the form of a gift card or other tender, as determined in our sole discretion (“honorarium”). The honorarium will be for the value indicated in the invitation you received and clicked on to accept the invitation and Research Terms (the “Amount”). If you receive multiple invitations to participate in the Research, the Amount you receive will be based on the invitation you first accepted. We may, at any time and in our sole discretion and without notice, opt to swap the vendor or honorarium supplier, as long as the Amount is the same real dollar value as represented. Gift cards are only issued in USD unless otherwise stated. No substitutions for gift card brand or currency will be made.

To register to claim your honorarium, upon the completion of the Research, you will be asked to provide your e-mail address, mobile telephone number and name. You may also be requested to verify your identity using e-mail and/or a two-factor-authentication method by entering a verification code we send you via text (to the mobile number you provide) and/or link your responses to your LinkedIn profile on our honorarium information screens or other social media or online information. Furthermore, you understand and agree that a representative may call you on the number you have provided to verify your identity and Research responses, and you hereby consent to receive such call(s).

If you have not been disqualified or deemed ineligible to participate in the Research at any point in the Research process, and you have completed participation in the Research, within approximately eight (8) weeks after the completion of your participation and registering to claim your honorarium, you will receive two (2) invitations by e-mail from us with the information and process steps required to pick up your honorarium. The pick-up process is conducted online; you will be provided with login information and a link to a screen where you will answer a brief set of questions.

After providing your responses, you will be able to access your honorarium as well as send yourself an e-mail with the details of your honorarium. You take ownership of the honorarium as property at the time when you are shown your honorarium card number. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE WE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU LOSE, MISPLACE, FAIL TO COLLECT, OR ABANDON YOUR HONORARIUM, in whatever form it is provided. Furthermore, according to the issuers of honorariums including companies from which we purchase gift cards, from the time that you assume ownership of the gift card or other form of honorarium, we are no longer responsible for and cannot provide any assistance concerning the redemption status of the honorarium – we can only confirm that you have received the redemption number that we provided that is unique to you. Any issues regarding honorarium redemption must be handled with the issuer/card provider (e.g. Amazon for issues concerning an Amazon gift card) and are your responsibility as the owner of the honorarium. After picking up your honorarium, we will maintain a record and log of your pickup which includes Personal Information as defined above.

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to not award an honorarium to a Respondent and/or to modify the Amount of the honorarium, at any point during the Research and honorarium-claiming process. Furthermore, we may place limitations on the period of time that the honorarium pickup process is available for honorarium pickup. This period may be limited to 2 weeks following honorarium pickup invitation distribution. After this pickup time period, we are no longer responsible for providing you with an honorarium for your participation and you will not have been deemed as ‘taking ownership’ of any honorarium or property.

If you believe that you have not received your invitation to pick up your honorarium within the estimated eight (8) week time frame, you can contact us using the form located at the FAQ page. To process any request, we may require the unique Respondent identification number that you received during or after the Research, along with any other information that may be requested on our forms. Completion of any FAQ form does not guarantee that you will be provided an honorarium and we may request additional information to review and research your case.

However, we make a good faith effort in each case to provide all eligible Respondents who have completed the Research and have not been disqualified, with an honorarium.

We make no representation or warranty that Respondent’s e-mail system or service provider will deliver the honorarium to Respondent at the e-mail address provided. It is the sole responsibility of Respondent to check on delivery of the honorarium, but not limited to checking Respondent’s “spam” or “junk” folders.

If you participate in the Research via a computer or mobile device, you are responsible for undertaking suitable precautions to scan for computer viruses and maintaining a backup of all data and/or equipment.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, we (including our officers, directors, agents and employees), nor any party involved in creating, producing, hosting or delivering the Research, shall be liable for any alleged damage or injury whatsoever, including but not limited to any compensatory, punitive, exemplary, incidental, consequential, direct, indirect, special and/or any other damages that result from your use or inability to use or access the Research or from any computer virus, malfunction or other failure. Some jurisdictions prohibit the exclusion or limitation of liability for certain types of damages, in which case the above limitation may not apply to you.

If you have any questions concerning this Website, the Research, or any of the policies set forth in these Research Terms, please send us your questions using the Contact Us page here. We will make an effort to respond to your questions but reserve the right not to respond to abusive or harassing communications.

These Research Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey of the United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. In the event that any portion of these Research Terms are deemed unenforceable, unlawful or void by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction, in any jurisdiction for any reason, unless narrowed by construction, such portion of these Research Terms shall, for purposes of such jurisdiction only, be construed as if such invalid, prohibited or unenforceable portion had been more narrowly constructed so as not to be invalid, prohibited or unenforceable (or if such provision cannot be drawn narrowly enough, the tribunal making any such determination shall have the power to modify such portion of these Research Terms to the extent necessary to make such portion of these Research Terms enforceable in such jurisdiction, and such portion shall then be applicable in such modified form in such jurisdiction). If, notwithstanding the foregoing, any such portion of these Research Terms would be held to be invalid, prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction for any reason, such portion, as to such jurisdiction only, shall be ineffective to the extent of such invalidity, prohibition or unenforceability, without invalidating the remaining provisions set forth in these Research Terms. No narrowed construction, modification or invalidation of any portion of the Research Terms shall affect the construction, validity or enforceability of such portion in any other jurisdiction. No waiver by us of any term or condition of these Research Terms shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or of any other term or condition, and our failure to assert any right or demand compliance with any provision of these Research Terms shall not be deemed to constitute a waiver of any such right or provision.

Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of your acceptance of these Research Terms, you agree that (1) any and all disputes and causes of action arising out of or connected with these Research Terms shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by final and binding arbitration in New Jersey within one year from the date that the cause of action arose (or, if multiple cause of actions are involved, from the date that the first cause of action arose), with such arbitration conducted pursuant to the then prevailing rules of the American Arbitration Association; and (2) judgment upon such arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by law, no arbitration brought pursuant hereto shall be joined to any other action or arbitration.

The rules governing arbitration are different than those in court. Arbitration does not involve a judge or jury and review is limited, but an arbitrator can award the same damages as a court. You understand that by accepting these Research Terms, you are giving up your right to a trial in court, either with or without a jury.

To the fullest extent permitted at law, under no circumstances will you be permitted to obtain an award for, and by accessing and/or using the site you waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, consequential or any other damages (including multiplied and/or increased damages and/or attorneys’ fees and court costs) for, any dispute or cause of action that you may have that relates in whole or part to the Research and/or the Materials. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in these Research Terms or otherwise, your recovery with respect to any and all claims, judgments, and awards for which you are entitled shall, to the fullest extent permitted at law, be limited to your actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, excluding attorneys’ fees and court costs.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in these Research Terms, we may at any time seek injunctive or other appropriate relief against you and/or against others, in any state or federal court in the state of New Jersey and/or in any other court chosen by us, in the event that we believe that there is a violation, or a threatened violation, of any of our intellectual property rights and, in such case, you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of such court.