Centerdata values the privacy and integrity of LISS panel members, as well as the careful handling of research data collected through the LISS panel. Therefore, each questionnaire undergoes an internal review, focusing on both language use and content, before being fielded to the panel. If any questions can be perceived as threatening, offensive, or very unpleasant by respondents, we reserve the right not to present these questions to panel members. Furthermore, questions that risk identifying panel members will also not be presented. This internal review process is separate from an ethical review conducted by an (external) ethics committee.

Researchers who wish to field a questionnaire to the LISS panel can apply for ethical approval from their own institute or faculty if required. Centerdata can provide support by answering questions and providing documents upon request. It should be noted that ethical approval for questionnaire research among respondents aged 16 years or older is not legally required in the Netherlands, with the exception of medical scientific research, which necessitates medical ethical approval under the Dutch WMO. Additionally, in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), LISS participants explicitly give informed consent for the use of the collected data in scientific and policy-relevant research, as described in the above informed consent section.

Moreover, research projects and questionnaires that collect (special) personal data also require approval from the Centerdata Data Protection Officer and Information Security Officer, following the internal ‘Privacy, Information Security, and Data Management checklist’ document, before being fielded to the LISS panel.