The Social Stratification and Immigration Studies Research Group believes it to be our social responsibility to comply with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and to ensure the proper handling of any survey participant information (hereinafter ”personal information”) that allows a person to be identified. Such information includes names, addresses, ages, genders, etc. In order to protect personal information, the Research Group will follow the “Basic Policy on the Protection of Personal Information” provided below when handling personal information. Furthermore, as a system to ensure the safeguarding of personal information and proper handling of related matters, a Personal Information Protection Committee has been established. The job of this committee is to ensure that all individuals working with the Research Group—not only group members but, also, the staff and graduate students—understand and adhere to this matter.

　　　　　　　　　Basic Policy on the Protection of Personal Information

1. The Research Group shall comply with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and related
   laws and regulations as well as guidelines setup by the competent authorities and this Basic Policy.
2. The Research Group shall work to ensure strict handling of personal information—i.e., collecting, utilizing, and sharing—as prescribed by relevant laws and regulations.
3. The Research Group shall work to prevent and redress unauthorized access to or the leakage, loss, damage, or alteration of personal information.
4. Collected personal information shall only be used within the scope of utilization purposes defined in advance.
5. Our efforts to protect personal information, including the Basic Policy on Protection of Personal Information, shall be revised as necessary, and the Research Group shall work to handle personal information in the most appropriate manner possible at all times.

Specifically, to protect personal information of the survey respondents, the Research Group strictly adheres to the following security measures.

1. he Research Group will enter a non-disclosure agreement with the institution entrusted with the survey in addition to the contractual agreement of entrusting the survey, to ensure the secure and strict handling of personal information that the entrusted institution has acquired or processed over the course of conducting the survey.
2. Collection of personal information or private information will be limited to the least amount possible. Only necessary personal information from the randomly selected list of names of survey respondents will be retained, and survey questionnaire content will be limited to items that are necessary for academic research purposes.
3. The list of survey respondents, which includes personal information, will be securely stored under strict monitoring of the survey institution and will be disclosed only to members of the secretariat but not to Research Group members, staff, or graduate students.
4. The survey result will be converted into numerical data. The data file will be securely stored, and access will be limited and strictly monitored. The data file will be anonymized when it is shared with the authorized members or academic researchers by deleting personal information such as names and addresses.
5. Research Group members will be required to enter an agreement on matters related to the Protection of Personal Information. This agreement will stipulate that the data 1) will only be used within the scope of purpose of utilization and 2) will not be shared with third parties.
6. The original survey questionnaires will be kept under lock and key, and access to the room in which it is stored will be monitored as a preventive measure against any unauthorized personnel accessing the data.
7. In the case of a possible breach of personal information, the Personal Information Protection Committee will be consulted immediately to analyze the cause and to take necessary preventive measures.
8. The Research Group will respond swiftly and appropriately to any opinions and questions from survey respondents regarding the handling of personal information arising, and will strive to maintain a working system.

Sawako Shirahase (University of Tokyo)
Principal Investigator
January 2016