Does GDPR law apply?

Questioner

I am writing a graduation research, in which I have conducted a survey together with my group. This is completely anonymous and individuals cannot be traced. Now we received feedback from the examiner that we are missing the consent declarations of the respondents, but our question is whether these consent declarations were mandatory in this situation. Since it concerns a completely anonymous survey. Before the survey was conducted it was stated that it was anonymous and that when filling it in they agreed to the data protection. We also signed a confidentiality statement as students.

Lawyer

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) stipulates that personal data must be protected and that permission is required for this. However, if the data you collect is completely anonymous, and individuals are absolutely untraceable, then there is no question of personal data within the meaning of the GDPR. In that case, the GDPR would not apply to your research. It is therefore important to check whether the data you collect is actually anonymous. For example, IP addresses are also personal data within the meaning of the GDPR. Even if you do not collect names, addresses and other directly identifying information, people can still be indirectly identifiable if the collected information in combination with other data can be traced back to an individual. However, if you have received feedback that consent forms are missing, it is possible that the institution where you are studying has additional requirements regarding the ethics of the research, apart from the requirements set by the GDPR. This could be for the transparency and reliability of the research, for example. I recommend that you contact your supervisor or the ethics committee (if available) within your school or university to gain more clarity on the exact requirements and how best to deal with them. ---------------- Stichting Rechtswinkel.nl is a national organization with students and volunteers. The above advice is based on limited information and may be incomplete or even incorrect for your situation. Always consult a lawyer or attorney for your further steps. Read disclaimer: https://rechtswinkel.nl/disclaimer I would like to invite you to rate the above answer so that we can learn from your response.