NarraFirma™ Help Home > Planning > Build your privacy policy << Write your project synopsis || Reflect on the planning phase >>

# Build your privacy policy

On this page you can craft a statement that explains to participants what information you will collect, how it will be used, and how they can control what happens to what they say.

## What to do here

Look at each question and think about what you want to say to people. If you are not sure what you want to say, a good place to start is to look for oral history privacy guidelines on the internet. There is plenty of good advice on protecting anonymity and helping people feel safe to speak.

## Connections to other pages

The information you enter here will appear in the project report.

## Frequently-asked questions

### Do I need a privacy policy?

Yes. It can be as short as one sentence, but you should definitely tell people what you want from them and what you plan to do with it.

### Even if the project is small and trivial?

Yes.

### Where should I put my privacy policy?

If you are gathering your stories in person, you can include your privacy policy in the little canned speech you give at the start of every interview or group session. If you are gathering stories over the internet, you can summarize your privacy policy with a single sentence at the start of your story form. It's a good idea to include a link to a longer explanation and some contact information for those who want more assurance.

### Is there a button that will insert my privacy policy into my NarraFirma story form?

No, sorry. My suggestion is to click "Copy Privacy Policy," then select the text, copy it, open your story form, and paste it into the "Introduction" field.

### What if I don't yet know what I am going to do with the stories?

Then tell people as much as you do know. You can say that you haven't yet decided on certain aspects of the project. But if you do that, give people a way to contact you so they can find out what is going on later.

### Must I allow people to change or remove their stories? Won't that jeopardize the project?

Not always. Not even usually. On most projects most people do not feel a need to change or retract what they said. However, if your topic is sensitive or private, or if there are big power differences between yourself and your participants (or your funders and your participants), you may find that giving people the option to change their minds will help them to open up. Remember, when people feel unsafe, they don't stop telling stories. They just tell different, safer, more surface-level stories. You want people to feel welcome to speak, and paradoxically, the best way to help people feel welcome to speak is to help them feel welcome to take that speech back if they reget it later.

### But logistically speaking, such a policy might be difficult to support. I mean, once other people have seen the stories, you can't ask them to unsee them.

That's true. In my experience, though people love finding out that they can change or remove what they said, very few people actually want to do this. Dealing with one or two such requests is not usually a big problem. Having said that, it is not unreasonable to give people a deadline for such changes. You can say something like, "If you contact us within 30 days, we will be happy to change or remove anything you said."