Privacy Policy

1. Data controller
The party responsible for processing your personal data on this website and in the context of our services is:


Ragaz Community Research AG

c/o Ornella Ragaz

Buchholzstrasse 161

8053 Zürich

Schweiz

E-Mail: info@community-research.ch

2. Principles of data processing
We process your personal data in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We only collect data that is necessary for the respective purpose and process it lawfully, in good faith and proportionately.
In our work, we adhere to the quality and professional standards of market and social research, in particular the codes of ESOMAR.

3. What data we process

3.1 When you visit our website
When you visit our website, technical access data is automatically processed. This includes the IP address, the date and time of access, the pages accessed, and information about your browser and operating system. This data is used solely to ensure the technical operation and security of the website.

3.2 When you contact us
When you contact us via the contact form or by email, we process the data you provide (name, email address, content of your message) solely for the purpose of handling your enquiry.

3.3 Within the scope of client relationships
For the initiation, conclusion and execution of assignments, we process the following data from clients and contact persons:

  • Contact details (last name, first name, role, email address, telephone number)
  • Company details (company name, address, business identification number)
  • Contract data and correspondence
  • Payment data


3.4 Within the scope of market research studies and communities
When you take part in our market research studies or communities, we process in particular the following data:

  • Contact details
  • Sociodemographic information
  • Responses to surveys
  • Qualitative content (e.g. texts, comments, image, audio and video files)
  • Usage data (e.g. processing times, interactions within the platform or progress in studies for quality assurance purposes)
  • Technical access data (e.g. IP address, time of access, device used and browser type to ensure operation and security)

When participating in communities, profile data of participants (e.g. gender, age, other sociodemographic information) is captured and linked to the survey data.

For the payment of compensation, payment data (e.g. IBAN) is processed.

In addition, responses and information from different studies in which the same person has participated may be linked and evaluated together. This also serves, in particular, to select and invite participants for further studies where they have provided specific information in earlier surveys.

We generally receive personal data directly from you. In individual cases, data may also come from clients, where this is required for the conduct of studies.

To verify identity upon admission to a community, confirmation is carried out via SMS, WhatsApp or telephone. The corresponding contact data (mobile number) is processed for this purpose.

4. Purposes of data processing

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

  • Provision of our market and social research services
  • Conduct of market research studies
  • Linking and evaluation of data from several studies involving the same participant for in-depth analysis and study recruitment
  • Selection and invitation of study participants
  • Communication with clients, participants and prospective clients
  • Conclusion and execution of contracts
  • Invoicing and accounting
  • Fulfilment of legal obligations
  • Improvement of our service offering and our website

5. Legal bases

Depending on the context, the processing of your data is based on the following grounds:

  • Performance of a contract or pre-contractual measures (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; Art. 31(2)(a) FADP)
  • Fulfilment of legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR)
  • Our legitimate interests, in particular in the conduct and further development of market research, provided that your interests do not override these (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; Art. 31(1) FADP)
  • Your consent, where this has been expressly obtained (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; Art. 6(6) and (7) FADP)

6. Disclosure of personal data

We only disclose your personal data to third parties in the following cases:

  • To processors that provide services on our behalf and are contractually obliged to comply with data protection regulations as well as technical and organisational protective measures
  • For the conduct of community research projects, we use the platform of Kernwert GmbH, Esmarchstr. 9, 10407 Berlin, Germany. A data processing agreement is in place with Kernwert. The servers are located exclusively in Germany and are certified to ISO/IEC 27001
  • For accounting and payment processing, we use Bexio AG, Bern, Switzerland. Data processing takes place in Switzerland.
  • To authorities or courts, where we are legally obliged to do so

Research findings and participant data are generally disclosed to clients in anonymised or aggregated form. Personal data of participants is only disclosed with their express consent or on the basis of a legal requirement. We contractually agree with our clients that no attempts will be made to identify individual participants and that the data received will not be combined with other data sources.

For email communication, document management and collaboration, we use services provided by Microsoft (Microsoft 365). The provider is Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, Dublin, Ireland. Data processing generally takes place within the EU. Microsoft may obtain access to personal data in the course of providing its services. Corresponding data processing agreements as well as appropriate safeguards for any data transfers to third countries are in place with Microsoft (in particular Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework).

7. Disclosure of data abroad

Where, within the scope of individual studies, sensitive personal data within the meaning of the FADP or special categories of personal data within the meaning of Art. 9 GDPR are collected (e.g. information on health, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, or intimate/private life), we obtain the express consent of participants prior to the start of the study. Whether and which special categories of data are collected in a specific project is set out in the study-specific privacy information.

8. Retention period

We only store your personal data for as long as is necessary for the respective processing purposes or as long as statutory retention obligations apply. Customer data from contractual relationships is generally retained for ten years (obligation under the Swiss Code of Obligations). Data from completed research projects is anonymised or deleted as soon as the purpose permits.

Data of active community members is processed for the duration of membership.

For persons who have completed a recruitment questionnaire but have not been admitted to a community, the following applies: where consent is given for the data to be stored for future communities, the data is retained for up to two years. Where this consent is not given or is withdrawn, the data is deleted no later than three months after the end of the recruitment phase.

Upon withdrawal from the community, your profile data (name, contact details, profile data) is deleted within 5 working days. Your earlier responses and contributions remain in anonymised form in research evaluations that have already been produced and cannot be retroactively removed from existing reports. Once a project has been completed, the contributions and result data are deleted from the platform.

Telephone numbers processed for verification purposes via WhatsApp or SMS are deleted from the respective chat history at least every six months.

In order to ensure a balanced and varied composition of the community, membership is not unlimited. We reserve the right to terminate memberships on a rotating basis after a certain period or number of participations.

9. Special categories of data

Where, within the scope of individual studies, special categories of personal data within the meaning of Art. 9 GDPR are collected (e.g. information on health, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or trade union membership), we obtain the express consent of participants prior to the start of the study. Whether and which special categories of data are collected in a specific project is set out in the study-specific privacy information.

10. Use of AI-supported analysis technologies

For the analysis of research studies, we use the following automated analysis technologies via the Kernwert platform, where survey data is transferred to external subprocessors of Kernwert. These services are active as soon as they are enabled on the platform:

  • Automatic translation and transcription: Texts as well as audio tracks from video and audio files are transferred to Google Cloud EMEA Limited (Dublin, Ireland). Processing generally takes place within EU regions; any third-country transfers are based on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
  • AI-supported text analysis and assistance: Selected texts as well as image, audio and video data are transferred to Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (Dublin, Ireland) and/or Mistral AI SAS (Paris, France). Only pseudonymised data is transferred; the data is not used to train AI models. Any third-country transfers are based on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

These services are generally active on the Kernwert platform and are used in all community studies. If you have any questions, you can contact us at any time at info@community-research.ch.

For internal analysis, structuring and drafting work (e.g. evaluation of research content or preparation of proposals), we also make selective use of the AI assistant Claude (Anthropic PBC, USA). Only pseudonymised or anonymised content, without names, contact details or other directly identifying information, is entered. A data processing agreement is in place with Anthropic; the data is not used to train AI models. Any transfers to the USA are based on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

11. Web meetings and recordings

Within the scope of community studies, web meetings may be conducted via the web conferencing system of the Kernwert platform. In doing so, live audio and video data, contributions and media data entered by the user, and, in the case of telephone dial-in, the telephone number are processed.

Important: Web meetings on the Kernwert platform are recorded as temporary raw data by default – regardless of whether the recording button is activated. The recording button merely determines the section of the file that can ultimately be exported. We therefore obtain the consent of all participants to the recording prior to every web meeting. The raw data is deleted within three days after the meeting.

Depending on the project, web meetings may also be conducted via Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited). The automatic recording of temporary raw data described above applies exclusively to the Kernwert platform. For web meetings conducted via Microsoft Teams, recording only takes place if the recording function is actively started; here too, we obtain the consent of all participants in advance.

12. Copyright, personality rights and rights of use

Study participants are advised to post protected works submitted in the study (e.g. images, videos, graphics) only with attribution to the author and the source. General personality rights include the depiction of persons: please do not post photos of other people (e.g. friends, relatives) without their express consent.

By taking part in a study, participants grant Ragaz Community Research AG the right to use the contributions created within the scope of the study for research purposes and to disclose them to clients in anonymised form. Ideas and concepts submitted by participants in studies may be used for the purposes of the respective research project.

13. Your rights

You have the following rights vis-à-vis us in relation to your personal data:

  • Right of access to the data stored about you (Art. 25 FADP; Art. 15 GDPR)
  • Right to have inaccurate data corrected (Art. 32 FADP; Art. 16 GDPR)
  • Right to erasure or restriction of processing (Art. 32 FADP; Art. 17, 18 GDPR)
  • Right to receive or transfer your data in a common electronic format (Art. 28 FADP; Art. 20 GDPR)
  • Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21 GDPR)
  • Right to withdraw consent that has been given

To exercise your rights or if you have any questions regarding data protection, please contact: info@community-research.ch

If you are of the opinion that the processing of your data violates applicable data protection law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

14. Cookies and tracking

Our website uses technically necessary cookies that are required for the operation of the website, as well as – with your consent – analytics cookies to measure website usage.

If you give your consent, we use a web analytics tool that collects anonymised usage data (e.g. pages accessed, time spent, approximate location) in order to further develop the website. Data may be transferred to server locations outside Switzerland; we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for this purpose. No data is collected for advertising purposes or sold to third parties.

When you first visit the website, your consent is obtained via a cookie banner. You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by adjusting the cookie settings on our website. Technically necessary cookies cannot be deactivated, as the website would otherwise not function.

15. Industry standards and quality

We conduct our research projects in accordance with recognised quality standards of market and social research and adhere to the codes and guidelines of ESOMAR. The protection of the personality and data of study participants is always of the highest priority.

16. Changes to this privacy policy

We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy as required, in particular in the event of changes to the legal basis or to our services. The current version is available at all times on our website. The version applicable at the time of use is authoritative.

Last updated: 27 August 2026