Student surveys lost in post

UK-- Survey forms containing personal details of 1,400 students have gone missing after they were sent by a Glasgow research firm to a consultancy in Edinburgh.

Research Resources sent eight boxes of completed forms to York Consulting in December, but only three were received. Neither of the companies nor the courier has been able to locate the missing questionnaires.

Students at seven Scottish colleges took part in the survey on how students choose higher education courses. York Consulting had been hired by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to conduct the survey, and subcontracted Research Resources to do the fieldwork.

Only 700 of the 2,200 forms sent by Research Resources were received by York Consulting. Of the 1,500 that are missing, around 1,400 contained personal information.

SFC said the data in the questionnaires does not include bank or national insurance details, but does include names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and demographic information.

The body has written to the students concerned to apologise, and has made changes to its standard terms and conditions to recommend that such data is only sent directly from A to B, not via a courier's depot.

Elaine Mackinnon, partner at Research Resources, said this was the only time in four years the firm had had to send forms in this way, as data would usually be processed in-house. “We're reviewing our procedures for sending and receiving data,” she said, adding that the firm will avoid sending questionnaires by courier in future.

Author: Robert Bain