Your Canvas : the basics
What is Your Canvas?
Your Canvas is the National Gallery’s online research panel. We created it to help us have an ongoing conversation with our both our existing and potential audiences, so the decisions we make about the Gallery are driven by your opinions, attitudes and motivations.
Who runs Your Canvas?
Your Canvas is run and managed by the National Gallery’s Data & Insight team, who run all of the Gallery’s audience research in-house. We use a third party platform created by DJS Research Ltd. to host Your Canvas but the Gallery’s Data & Insight team write and run all of the research and respond to enquiries. For more information on who can access your data, please refer to the Your Canvas Privacy Policy.
Can anyone join Your Canvas?
Most definitely! Anyone is welcome to become a panellist. You don’t have to have visited the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square before or be a huge art enthusiast. All we ask is that you’re aged 18 or over and can spare a little time each month to take part in our research about the National Gallery.
How do I join Your Canvas?
Click the Register button to become a Your Canvas panellist. You’ll be sent a confirmation email to activate your account – then you can start with taking the ‘About me’ profiling survey to help us get to know you.
Is it free to take part?
Yes, it’s completely free to take part.
What will my answers be used for?
All information that we collect is only used for research purposes and we won't use any of your contact details for marketing purposes (unless you’ve given permission elsewhere). Any information that the National Gallery already holds about you (for example if you are a Member, email subscriber or have previously purchased something from us) is stored separately and won’t be used to cross-reference your survey responses against.
Participating in research
What type of research will I be taking part in?
We run lots of different types of audience research. You are most likely to be sent short polls (1-2 questions) and longer surveys (5-15 minutes) to complete in your own time, but we might also ask you to register your interest in other types of research such as one-to-one telephone or video interviews, focus groups, diary studies or research on-site at the National Gallery itself, which will take longer (usually 1-2 hours of your time). Participation in any research is optional, and you can change your preferences and opt in and out of different types of research in your account.
How often will I receive surveys and invitations to other research projects?
The frequency with which we run audience research fluctuates throughout the year depending on which projects we’re working on. We’ll also tailor the research you receive so it’s relevant to your interests, so you won’t receive every survey we run. However, on average you can expect to receive between 1-3 surveys per month.
How long will it take?
An average survey will take between 5-10 minutes to complete. However we’ll also send short polls (1-2 questions that will take a few minutes) and invitations to participate in longer, qualitative research projects too.
How do I sign up to bigger research projects such as focus groups?
If we think a larger research project (such as a video call or focus group) might be of interest to you, we’ll send you what’s called a recruitment survey. This will ask you a couple of questions to see whether you’re the right fit for the research (for example – a project to test our website might ask if you own a particular type of smartphone) as well as your availability on certain dates/times. Unfortunately we can’t guarantee that you’ll be selected to take part in the research if you complete the recruitment survey, but we’ll do our very best to ensure that we only send invitations to people who we think will be available to take part.
Will I get paid to take part in the research?
Your Canvas is initially launching as a one-year pilot. We won’t be offering paid rewards for completion of polls and surveys during this initial trial period, although this may change in the future. However, we may offer incentives or rewards for participation in bigger research projects (such as week-long diary studies) if we require more of your time, although we cannot guarantee this will be the case.
Do I have to participate in every survey or research project?
No, you can take part in as much or as little research as you like, depending on how much time you have to spare. We appreciate any and all feedback you give, so it doesn’t matter if you can only participate now and again.
How can I participate in more surveys?
We’ll send you all the research that we think is most applicable to you – for instance, we won’t send you research about family activities at the Gallery if you’ve told us you don’t visit museums and galleries with children. This may mean there are quiet periods and busy periods throughout the year where you receive more/less research. You can always update your ‘About me’ profiling survey and your research preferences in your account to make sure we’re inviting you to take part in the research that’s most relevant to you.
What happens if I don’t feel comfortable sharing some information?
We want to ensure we are inclusive in all we do and this will sometimes require us to ask specific communities about their opinions on specific projects. For example, we might require the views of D/deaf visitors if we’re developing a new BSL tour of the Gallery, or we might ask LGBTQ+ audiences or Black/African/Caribbean/Black British visitors for their views about new projects that are designed with them in mind. If you initially share this information but want to retract it at a later date, you can either retake the ‘About me’ profiling survey or get in contact via the Contact Us form. Participation in all our research is optional, and you are free to stop taking part at any time.
What happens if I don’t take part?
We hope that you’ll enjoy taking part in our research, but understand that you might register as a panellist then change your mind or forget to login. If there has been no activity on your account for six months, you’ll receive an email from us asking if you’d like to stay on as a panellist. If, after that reminder email, you still don’t log into Your Canvas, we’ll automatically delete your account after one month. Alternatively, you can close your account in the preferences section of your account at any time.
Account & profile
How do I change my details after registering?
To change your name and contact details, login to Your Canvas and then click the ‘Account’ tab. Here you can update your details and account information, as well as opting in and out of different types of research. If you’d like to change any of the ‘About me’ information (for example if your demographics or interests have changed) then you can click the ‘About me’ tab to retake your profiling survey. If you need a hand changing your details, just get in touch via the contact form.
How do I change my password?
Once you are logged in, select the small arrow next to your name. Here you will be given the option to “Change Password”. If you can’t remember your password, you can select “Forgotten password” on the Login page, and we’ll send you an email to reset your password.
Can I close my account?
Yes, you can close your account at any time in the preferences section of your account. We’ll delete any information we hold about you, including all contact details, so won’t contact you again. You’re welcome to re-join as a panellist at any time.
How will you use the information I provide in the ‘About me’ profiling survey?
The purpose of this first ‘About me’ survey is to learn a little more about you. This helps us to understand who takes our surveys (for example – the proportion of Members or people from different age groups) but also helps us to target research based on your demographics and interests. For instance – if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, we might ask you about our National Touring programme to museums in other countries around the UK, which wouldn’t be relevant if you lived in England, or we might invite you to take part in a focus group at a local venue, rather than in London.
Privacy
What sort of data will you collect?
By participating in Your Canvas, we’ll collect different kinds of personal data about you such as identity, contact data, profile data and communications preference data, as well as the responses you provide as part of the research. A detailed list of the data we collect about our panellists can be found in the Your Canvas Privacy Policy.
How will you keep my data safe?
We take your privacy very seriously, and as such we have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. For full information on how we use and protect your data, please see the Your Canvas Privacy Policy.
Will I receive emails from third parties?
Absolutely not – the only emails you’ll receive will be invitations to take part in new research and/or information about the panel (for example if we launch a new feature). You won’t be subscribed to the National Gallery’s wider mailing list (although you can subscribe to that here) or receive any sort of marketing emails from us, or any third party. We will never sell on your details or share with another company.
Does Your Canvas use cookies?