Study “Individuelles Umwelterleben” / “Individual perception of the environment” – Data protection declaration

In the context of research on environmental health (e.g. Moeller 2011), studies focus on  the impact of measurable properties of the environment, e.g. air and water quality, on health in everyday life. However, little is known about how the everyday experience of the environment affects mental health in terms of individual perception or sense making and how this generates or alleviates stress.

To collect the data, we use the established methodology of accompanied city walks (Degen & Rose 2012) to observe informants, but adapt it in the sense of “close monitoring” to the use of digital tools (cf. Kremer 2018): (1) An app records the movement behavior of informants in Würzburg over a period of several hours, thus constitutes a digital mobility diary and (2) enables the informants to document individual stress perception by means of photos, videos and voice messages on site and to reflect on them in diary entries.

The informants are invited to document their environment-related experience of stress in the app by recording the above-mentioned media in the app. In the course of data collection, further specific tasks are given in the app to determine which aspects of environmental stress need to be taken into consideration. The collected data are uploaded to an FAU server immediately after collection and can be reviewed at any time in a spatial and temporal overview.

Implementation: Dr. Dominik Kremer, dominik.kremer@fau.de, Tel: +49-9131-85-23306

Contact for questions relating to data protection: datenschutzbeauftragter@fau.de

Age group, gender, highest educational qualification, job title, marital status, net monthly household income and dependent household members, as well as location of main place of residence within and outside of Würzburg

• location tracking (GPX = quantitative data): The location of your smartphone is recorded; however, you can define blocking times at any time.
• qualitative multimedia data: Multimedia content that informants create themselves and upload deliberately e.g. photos, videos, sound recordings, audio  comments/voice recordings, free text information on personal environmental perception.

• permission to access the general memory of the smartphone outside of the application
• permission to write in the general memory
• access to and use of the audio recording
• access to and use of the camera
• access to and use of the location

Personal data is stored separately and in a encrypted version using the HTTPS transmission protocol. The case-related data are temporarily stored on the device in encrypted form and local data are regularly deleted after uploading. Participants also receive a non-personal identifier when using the app (see above).

Your consent is voluntary. You can refuse consent without incurring any disadvantages.

You can revoke your consent to the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) at any time. The further processing of your personal data will become inadmissible from the revocation onwards.

However, your revocation does not affect the legality of the data processing prior to your revocation. This data processing is deemed lawful on the basis of your consent.

You have the right to information from the responsible institution about the respective personal data and to rectification or erasure or restriction of processing or a right to object to processing as well as the right to data portability and a right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority.

You will find the relevant definitions of the data protection terms used in the “Definitions” annex.

The annex “Legal basis” summarizes the legal requirements and your rights under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

• According to Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR, “personal data” (pd) means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”). An identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. This can be, for example, information about where a person is insured, where they live or how much money they earn. This does not require to name the person. It is sufficient to be able to identify the person in question.
• According to Art. 9 para. 1 GDPR, “special categories” of personal data are data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as well as the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
• According to Art. 4 No. 15 GDPR, “data concerning health” are personal data relating to the physical/mental health of a natural person, including the provision of healthcare services, which reveal information about their health status.
• “Secondary use” of research data permits that the collected data be reused for anew analyses by the institution. The data can be used to answer new research questions in full or in addition to the institution’s own data collection. In most cases, the used data is reviewed and reinterpreted for modified questions in a new research context.
• According to Art. 4 No. 2 GDPR, “processing” means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.
• “Annonymisation” is the alternation of personal data in such a way that the details of personal or factual conditions can no longer be attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person or can only be attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person with a disproportionate amount of time, cost and effort.

The aim of the research project is to investigate how measurable characteristics of the environment, e.g. air and water quality, sounds, etc., affect health in everyday life. The main focus is on how the everyday experience of the environment affects mental health in terms of the individual perception or sense making and how this generates or alleviates stress.

The aforementioned institutions process the personal data collected from you on the basis of your given consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. Insofar as special categories of personal data are concerned, the aforementioned institutions process the personal data collected from you on the basis of your given consent in accordance with Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a GDPR.

The exploratory data collection serves as a basis for publications and further applications for project funding.

The data will be stored anonymously and blocked for ten years on the basis of “good scientific practice”. If you have consented to secondary use, the storage period will be extended beyond 10 years.

Within legal requirements, you have a fundamental right vis-à-vis the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) to

• revocation / right to object
• right to informational self-determination/ information about the use (including disclosure) of data
• confirmation as to whether the personal data in question is processed by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
• information about these data and the circumstances of the processing
• rectification if these data are incorrect,
• erasure,
• restriction of processing in special cases specified by law,
• transmission of your personal data – if you have provided it – to you or a third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.