Participant Information
Last updated: 14 September 2026
What is this research?
This research explores how communications professionals exercise judgement when planning and reviewing important work, and how generative AI affects that judgement.
We are interested in real experiences rather than only general attitudes towards AI. That includes situations where information was incomplete, priorities competed, the right way forward was unclear, or professional judgement made a meaningful difference.
The research is not trying to prove that AI is beneficial, harmful or inevitable. AI scepticism, limited access, deliberate non-use, negative experiences and situations where the outcome remains uncertain are all valuable evidence.
Corporate communications is the first research domain. This study does not claim evidence about other professions.
Why have I been invited?
You have been invited because you have experience of communications, organisational change, transformation or related leadership work.
You do not need to use generative AI or have specialist knowledge of it.
What will taking part involve?
The interview contains 16 fixed questions and usually takes around 15–25 minutes.
Questions appear one at a time. Depending on what you say, Given Time may ask up to five brief follow-up questions drawn from an approved set, with no more than two in any section.
You can answer open questions by speaking or typing. Both are equally valuable. If you speak, you control when recording starts and stops.
You can pause for as long as you need.
At the end of the interview, Given Time shows you the questions and the answers or transcripts it has recorded. You can correct an answer or add something before completing your review.
The original answer remains in the audit history and the correction becomes the authoritative version for later interpretation.
Is taking part voluntary?
Yes.
Taking part is voluntary. You can decide not to begin and you can stop before completing the interview without giving a reason.
Answers you have already submitted are saved and may be available if you return in the same browser. They remain subject to the retention and withdrawal arrangements below.
Participation is research. It is not an assessment, product demonstration or sales conversation.
What information will be collected?
The research record may contain:
your agreement to take part;
a randomly generated interview reference;
the questions and response options shown to you;
typed answers, voice transcripts and selected fixed responses;
the sequence of questions and structural routes you experienced;
corrections and additions made during review;
review-completion status; and
limited timing and technical information needed to operate, secure and troubleshoot the interview.
You do not need to give your name, employer, client or organisation.
Contact details supplied separately are not designed to be linked automatically to your interview record.
What happens if I speak an answer?
Your browser records only after you choose Speak your answer.
When you submit the recording, Given Time sends the audio through its server to OpenAI to create a transcript.
Given Time does not save the raw audio in Airtable or another research record. The transcript is saved as your answer. OpenAI handles submitted audio under its applicable API service terms, as explained in the Privacy Notice.
You can type instead.
The role of AI in the interview is deliberately bounded. AI cannot freely invent or rewrite the interview questions. The interview sequence is fixed and versioned, and any follow-up comes from a predefined, approved set.
How will my information be used?
Responses may be analysed to identify themes, examples, differences and contradictions in how communications professionals exercise judgement and how generative AI features in that work.
AI may assist with processes such as transcription, summaries or suggested research codes within the boundaries of the research design. Machine-generated material is treated as a proposal for human review, not as a research finding in itself.
A human researcher reviews the material before it is used in findings or publications.
Findings may be published in reports, articles, presentations or other research materials.
They will normally be presented in aggregated or anonymised form. Complete transcripts will not be published. Short anonymous quotations may be used after human review to reduce the risk that a person or organisation could be identified.
The research does not produce participant scores, competency assessments, organisational ratings, commercial lead scores or automated decisions about participants.
Who is responsible, and where is information processed?
Rich Baker is the independent Given Time study lead and data controller for this research.
The current services used for the research include:
Render, which hosts Given Time and processes requests to the interview service;
Airtable, which stores the research record;
OpenAI, which processes submitted spoken-answer audio for transcription; and
Squarespace, which hosts the public research information and Privacy Notice pages.
Access to research records is restricted through Given Time’s administrative credentials and Airtable workspace permissions. Rich Baker controls who is authorised to access the study.
Provider locations, retention arrangements and international-transfer information are described in the Privacy Notice.
What is the lawful basis?
The UK GDPR Article 6 lawful basis for this processing is legitimate interests.
The legitimate interests are conducting research into how communications professionals exercise judgement and how generative AI may feature in that work, developing and evaluating the Given Time research method, and operating a secure and reliable research service.
A study-specific Legitimate Interests Assessment records the purpose, necessity, privacy impact and safeguards.
Your agreement on the interview launch page is ethical agreement to take part. It is separate from the UK GDPR lawful basis for processing personal information.
You may object to processing based on legitimate interests by contacting hello@rich-baker.com.
How long will information be kept?
The operational date for withdrawal and retention is the last participant activity successfully recorded in the interview record.
If you complete answer review, this is the recorded review-completion time. If you do not, it is the latest persisted start, answer, correction or addition time. Simply closing the browser does not create a separate event.
No later than 90 days after that recorded activity, Rich Baker will actively review the identifiable interview record.
It will then be deleted, irreversibly anonymised, or retained for a further documented period only where a specific continuing research need justifies that decision.
Ninety days is an active review point, not an automatic entitlement to retain every record.
The identifiable record will not be irreversibly anonymised during your 14-day withdrawal window. Provider-held operational or security copies may follow the provider’s applicable retention arrangements.
Can I withdraw my information?
You can ask us to delete your identifiable interview record within 14 days of the last participant activity successfully recorded in the interview record.
Email hello@rich-baker.com and include your interview reference if available.
If you do not have it, provide the approximate date and time and only the minimum non-confidential information needed to locate the record.
Given Time will not disclose or delete another person’s record on an uncertain match.
Once information has been irreversibly anonymised so that it can no longer be linked to a participant, deletion may no longer be possible.
Deletion from a provider’s operational or security systems is subject to that provider’s applicable retention arrangements.
How should I protect confidentiality?
Please do not name individuals, clients or organisations, and do not share confidential, commercially sensitive, legally privileged, security-related, health, employment-case or other sensitive personal information.
Use general descriptions or choose another example.
If you submit something you did not intend to share, stop and contact hello@rich-baker.com.
What are my information rights?
Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to request access, correction, deletion or restriction; object to processing; and complain about how your information is used.
These rights are not absolute.
Contact hello@rich-baker.com so a request can be assessed and the correct record located safely.
You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at:
or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.
Are there any disadvantages?
Some questions may feel difficult, repetitive or tiring.
Thinking about a situation involving uncertainty or professional judgement may also require you to revisit a difficult or ambiguous experience.
Voice transcription can be inaccurate, which is why the interview includes review and correction.
You can take your time, choose not to answer where the interview allows, or stop taking part.
Contact and Privacy Notice
For research questions, privacy questions or a withdrawal request, email:
hello@rich-baker.com
Read the Privacy Notice: