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Survey Design and Analysis Services Pty Ltd (SDAS) is committed to protecting the privacy of our customers (existing and prospective), our employees, and our suppliers. For this reason SDAS has developed a privacy policy compliant with the Australian Privacy Principles as per the Australian Privacy Act 1988, amended and in force 10 October 2025. This policy is updated periodically and was most recently updated on 10 October 2025.
This Privacy Statement is applicable on all of our websites and the services that we manage. We are responsible for the following websites and web pages:
We also operate a business Facebook page at www.facebook.com/surveydesign, a business LinkedIn page at www.linkedin/company/surveydesign, an X (formerly Twitter) account at @sdas_anz, and a YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@sdas_anz.
The Australian Privacy Principles define personal information as:
“Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: (a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and (b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. Australian Privacy Principles.
Depending on your interaction with SDAS we collect different information. The types of information that we collect relates to the different people and organisations with whom we interact. The people and the information we may collect is summarised in the following table:
Customers include persons purchasing software licences for their own use, persons registering to download an instance of a client site licence, persons purchasing training (including paid e.g. Stata NetCourses, modules in the SDAS Certified Stata Analyst program, in-person training or free workshops), persons purchasing textbooks, persons registering for free webinars hosted by SDAS or persons registering to download trial licences of the software distributed by SDAS. The types of information we obtain vary depending on the service or software for which the customer registers. Depending on your engagement with us we might collect:
We collect information using a range of methods depending on your interaction with SDAS. The most common methods of information collection include:
This list provides a detailed account of the most commonly used methods of information collection, however, it is not completely exhaustive. While we usually collect information directly from customers, we also utilise public documents, agents and service providers to source information.
SDAS collects non-personal information regarding the use of our web pages. The information collected includes the time of visit and the areas of our website to which the user navigates. This information is collected for the purpose of optimising our website for customers and improving upon our existing web pages. IP addresses may also be collected from visitors to SDAS web pages, which contain the unique identification information for the web page visitor’s particular device. The main purposes of such collection are for the prevention of fraud and security breaches.
SDAS has engaged Google Inc to provide website browsing analytics. This website analytics service may include the use of tracking cookies. SDAS does not collect personal information through this outsourced service. Where you have registered with Google to use this personal information (e.g. IP address, device IDs) Google Inc may use this information to display advertising material to you from SDAS.
Cookies are also utilised to monitor the preferences of our customers when using the SDAS web pages. A cookie is stored on the web page user’s computer or browser. It contains data regarding your use of the SDAS web pages. Any personal information of the web page user that is stored in the cookie will be treated as per “How we use this information and why we collect it” (see below). Please note that users can disable cookies on their device to block the collection of information, however there may be limitations to web page functionality in this case.
SDAS conducts Google search ads and Google remarketing ads. With the assistance of Google Cookies and tracking Google tracks visits to our website and completion of certain events. SDAS then uses Google remarketing advertisements to advertise to people who have previously performed tracked actions on our website. If you would prefer not to see Google Adwords and Google Remarketing advertisements you can adjust your Google settings through Google Chrome Ad Settings, and other means. You can also avoid receiving Google Adwords and Google Remarketing by implementing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on available from https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
SDAS uses computer technology to store the information you provide to us. The information is centrally stored in a database on password-protected computers. We use multifactor authentication to connect to our accounting system and our customer relationship management system. Due to the means by which orders are received, some information may reside in an unstructured format in emails, scanned images, or on paper. SDAS uses cloud-based customer relationship management software. As part of choosing any such software SDAS will seek statements from the providers of cloud-based solutions that other entities cannot access the information stored in the software and databases. SDAS cannot warrant that the computer hardware provided by the cloud provider is based in Australia and as such could be subject to other privacy laws.
We do not store credit card information. We process any credit card transactions immediately via a secure, online banking systems (either PayPal, or PayWay by Westpac Banking Corporation). We have chosen those applications as we have noted that they have self-reported that they are PCI DSS compliant. SDAS cannot access credit card information in either PayPal or PayWay after the information has been entered into the system and the transaction has been processed.
We require customer information to process customer orders and fulfil sales transactions. This includes registering the customer, where applicable, as a user of: Stata with StataCorp LLC (developers of Stata) a US Company registered in College Station, TX, USA; Stat/Transfer with Circle Systems (developers of Stat/Transfer) a US Company registered in Seattle, WA, USA; WordStat, QDA Miner and/or SimStat with Provalis Research Corp (developers of WordStat, QDA Miner and SimStat) a Canadian Company registered in Montreal, QC, Canada. The companies StataCorp LLC, Circle Systems, Provalis Research Corp collectively stand as related companies to SDAS.
The related companies to SDAS will use the information disclosed to them by SDAS in accordance with their privacy policies. The related companies may use this information to contact customers regarding their goods and services and this may continue past the point at which the transaction between SDAS and the customer ends. If you require further information on the privacy policies of related companies, please contact SDAS as per the contact details provided below.
We collect this information to make records of the sales of software, training, books, and related products which we sell. We use this information to improve the services that we provide. This may include calling you after a sale to confirm that you have successfully installed the software, received the books and / or to gather feedback on the training that you attended. We may include you in a mailing list to advise you of new releases of Stata, Stat/Transfer or Provalis Research products; or to send you other marketing material related to these products.
SDAS does not sell your information. SDAS does not share your information with other entities, unless you have provided your written consent to share your information. By ordering goods or services you explicitly grant SDAS the authority to share relevant personal information with: StataCorp in order to process your purchase of Stata software, training, books or journals; Circle Systems in order to process your purchase of Stat/Transfer software; Provalis Research Corp in order to process your purchase of WordStat, QDA Miner or SimStat software; or any of these entities on other related goods or services.
We need the information in order to pay you and to manage our relationship with you.
The disclosure of personal information to other entities will only occur if the entity is assisting in the provision of goods and services purchased from SDAS. SDAS has agreements with such entities to ensure the confidentiality of your information is protected.
The entities this pertains to, both domestic and international, may carry out functions for SDAS in the provision of goods and services including, but not limited to:
SDAS may disclose information about a customer to a our Indonesian reseller, where the customer has requested customer service or support from Indonesia. It is provided as per the “How we use this information and why we collect it” section (see above). Where customers make enquiries with us and those enquiries are best dealt with by a local contact we may provide your name, email address, telephone number and other information you supply to us to one of our trusted resellers. We do this to provide you with better service and allow communications in your time zone, in your local language.
SDAS discloses information to StataCorp for software and netcourses related to Stata, Circle Systems Inc for software purchases of Stat/Transfer and Provalis Research for purchases of Provalis Research software. This is performed in order to issue software licences. This is completed as per the “How we use this information and why we collect it” section (see above) detailing the information disclosure completed in the registration process of software users. These companies are based outside of Australia. StataCorp is based in Texas in the United States of America. Circle Systems is based in Washington state in the United States of America; and Provalis Research is based in the province of Quebec in Canada.
SDAS does not share details of individuals registering to access networks or site licences with StataCorp.
SDAS also engages with Stata distributors in other countries and may pass information to the distributors in those countries where the customer contacting SDAS is based outside of the territories in which SDAS operates. We will do this with your permission. The countries listed are not exhaustive, where SDAS may additionally disclose information to overseas recipients in the course of disclosure to entities listed in the “Disclosure of information” section. When this occurs, and international disclosure extends outside of the listed countries, we will endeavour to update this section to reflect the most current information.
If you would like to access the information SDAS has collected on you please email privacy@surveydesign.com.au. We will act on your request within 30 days of receipt of your request. If you believe for any reason that the information that we hold about you is incorrect you can email our Privacy Officer at privacy@surveydesign.com.au
SDAS retains data on our customers to provide quality customer service and help our customers to receive the best pricing and service available for the products we distribute. This information allows SDAS to provide technical support, keep you informed of developments, learning opportunities and related activities (where you have chosen to receive our electronic communications). Data is only retained only as long as necessary for lawful purposes. Depending on the type of licence purchased and your engagement with SDAS we will retain your data for different periods.
Where it is not practicable to delete personal information immediately, SDAS may securely de-identify it. To request removal of your records, please email the details (such as your name, email address, and software licence number) to privacy@surveydesign.com.au or in writing to Survey Design and Analysis Services, Unit 801, 241 Northbourne Avenue, LYNEHAM ACT 2602, AUSTRALIA attention: The Privacy Officer.
If you believe that SDAS or an employee of SDAS has breached your privacy through collection, storage, use or disclosure of private information then you should immediately contact our privacy officer at privacy@surveydesign.com.au. You must inform us of your name, your complaint, describe the breach that you believe to have occurred, and the actions that you believe can be taken to remediate the breach of your privacy. Our Privacy Officer will record your complaint and then manage the incident to address your concern and work with you to remediate the breach. You will be contacted within 30 days of receipt of the complaint.
If you are not satisfied with the way in which SDAS handles the incident you can seek arbitration of the complaint and as a last option refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. www.oaic.gov.au.
Yes. Please inform us if you do not wish to be contacted for marketing and promotional communications. This is a free service and does not impact your ability to receive important transactional communications. We may still need to communicate with you for essential services or transactional information (such as licence renewals, invoices and receipts). We will retain your relevant information in our databases and include your preference to not be contacted for marketing or other purposes.
Our newsletter offers the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time, after which you will no longer receive newsletters from SDAS, unless you re-subscribe. You can subscribe or unsubscribe at www.surveydesign.com.au/subscription or you can email us requesting changes to your subscriptions.