b'Protection of respondent confidentiality is a core principle of responsible research Your Information practice. Informed consent is a process of communication between a participant and researcher which enables the participant to decide voluntarily whether or not to participate in a study.Confidential, Safe, and SecureKeeping your information safe and secure is our top priority. How do we do that? It starts with your interviewer, who is a professionally trained employee of the University of Michigans Survey Research Center. Interviewers sign a pledge of confidentiality to promise to keep your information safe. All of the laptops used by interviewers have security software and complex passwords and firewalls that prevent unauthorized persons from accessing the information. Every day, all of the information collected is sent by a secure line to our central computers where it is encrypted and accessed only by authorized University staff members. Any information that links the data to the person who gave it is removed. It is then combined with the information for all of the others who participated in the survey. It is stored without names, only with an assigned number. 28'