Any statement made to secure co-operation and all written and oral assurances made to the participants shall be factually correct, give an honest picture of the situation and be honoured.

If focus groups are to be recorded those being invited to take part should be made aware of this, told the medium of the recording and who will have access to the recordings.

People supporting the focus groups must guarantee confidentiality. In addition, focus group facilitators will ensure that all participants understand that they are also required to give each other undertakings of confidentiality.

All reasonable precautions shall be taken to ensure that a participant and those closely associated with him/her, are in no way adversely affected or embarrassed as a direct result of participation.

Unless otherwise notified to participants, access to the raw data of focus groups shall be restricted to the people needed to process it. In reports produced from focus group output, information that might identify and possibly disadvantage a focus group member will be treated so as to conceal identity while striving to convey the point made by the individual.

In order to preserve the confidentiality of information provided by participants, Viewpoint supporters must ensure that all reasonable care is taken to secure data held on paper, tape, disc or on a computer.

Facilitators, Note Takers and any person admitted to a group as an observer must act neutrally both in word and expression. They are there to encourage or note the views of others and not to promote personal or partisan opinion. It may be useful for participants to understand that silence or nodding by a facilitator in this setting should not be interpreted as agreement.

Facilitators and Note Takers will respect all contributors and have a duty to seek out the widest range of views and ensure quieter voices are heard. Strategies that might make participants feel uncomfortable or pressured are not allowed. Facilitators also have a duty to ensure focus group members treat each other with courtesy and respect differences of opinion.

Participants should have a named person and contact details, other than the people supporting the focus group, to whom they can address any concerns or complaints about the focus group.

Participants will be informed of who is sponsoring the research, the purpose of the research, who is supporting the focus group, who will have access to the results and what feedback (if any) will be given to participants.

Participation is voluntary and agreement to attend shall be sought when an individual has had an opportunity to understand the nature of the focus group.

The participant's right to withdraw, or to refuse to co-operate at any stage, shall be respected. No procedure or technique shall be used to coerce, or imply that participation is obligatory.

If a participant wishes to withdraw from a group he/she has the right to do so. The supporters may report back to the line manager the time the person left but must make clear to the manager the right of the person to leave the group. The topic or stage of proceedings when the person left will remain confidential.

No action shall be taken that is likely to undermine the confidence of other people in this form of employee research.

Sponsors of the research or their representatives may not attend focus groups except as observers and the interest of such attendees must be made clear to the focus group. Sponsors may invite participants to dialogue once the focus group research has concluded provided that participants were advised in writing of the following session, its purpose, length and rules for confidentiality.

People being invited to a focus group should understand the basis of selection. The basis of selection and relevant aspects of composition of groups should feature in research reports.

The research must be open-minded and not organised or conducted to favour particular outcomes. Focus groups must not set out to influence the attitudes or behaviour of participants.

Supporters should not knowingly communicate conclusions from a focus group that are inconsistent with, or not warranted by, the data.

Research reports should provide a balanced picture of the results and distinguish clearly between the description of the findings and their interpretation.

If there are legal requirements to disclose items covered by confidentiality, the law will take precedence.