Create your survey

Create your survey

Create your survey

How to create clinical trial participants survey about data privacy concerns

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Adam Sabla

·

Aug 23, 2025

Create your survey

This article will guide you on how to create a clinical trial participants survey about data privacy concerns. With Specific, you can build such a survey in seconds using an AI-powered survey generator—no more manual work or endless forms.

Steps to create a survey for clinical trial participants about data privacy concerns

If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific. It's truly that easy. Here’s how it goes:

  1. Tell what survey you want.

  2. Done.

You don’t even need to read further if you're in a hurry. The AI leverages expert knowledge to craft questions tailored for clinical trial participants, and it automatically asks smart follow-up questions so you gain deep, nuanced insights—not just surface data. You can always make a custom survey for any audience or topic as well.

Why these surveys matter for clinical trial participants

We’re not just talking about another box-ticking exercise—running surveys on data privacy concerns with clinical trial participants is crucial for several reasons. First, participant trust hinges on transparent and careful data handling. If you’re not running these surveys, you’re missing out on:

  • Understanding how comfortable participants actually are with data sharing

  • Spotting trust gaps before they become recruitment obstacles

  • Identifying concerns that could impact participant retention and trial completion

In fact, a major survey found 93% were very or somewhat likely to allow their data to be shared with university scientists, but 37% feared that data sharing could put off others from enrolling, and a significant number were concerned about marketing use and data theft. [1] If you skip feedback, you’re not just missing insights—you’re risking lower enrollment and weak participant engagement.

Beyond that, regulations like HIPAA require strong confidentiality measures in clinical trials. [3] Participant feedback exposes blind spots in your compliance and communication process, and with data breaches making headlines, these insights keep you a step ahead on reputation and trust.

Regular feedback on data privacy also helps your team catch shifting expectations—especially as new tech (like AI or blockchain) changes the landscape. Miss these feedback loops and you risk missing early warning signs that really matter to your study’s success.

What makes a good survey on data privacy concerns?

The difference between a survey people rush through and one they engage with comes down to clarity, tone, and respect for context. Here’s what separates strong surveys from weak ones when it comes to clinical trial data privacy:

Bad Practices

Good Practices

Confusing jargon, technical terms

Clear, simple language tailored to clinical trial participants

Loaded or biased questions

Unbiased and neutral survey questions

Cold, formal tone

Conversational tone to encourage honest answers

No place for "why?" and context

Allows open-ended and follow-up exploration

The measure of a good survey is in the quality and quantity of responses. We want both to be high: a survey that lots of participants complete, and one that draws out honest, specific input. Clear and friendly questions reduce dropoff and boost depth—both of which are crucial for getting actionable feedback on privacy concerns.

Question types and examples for clinical trial participants survey about data privacy concerns

Mixing question types lets you capture both breadth and depth. Let’s cover each core type, with examples to show how these work in practice.

Open-ended questions are perfect for exploring specifics or hearing participant stories. Great for context and nuance, they work best when we want to understand *why* or *how* someone feels the way they do. Examples:

  • “What concerns, if any, do you have about how your data is handled or shared during clinical trials?”

  • “Can you share an experience that made you trust (or distrust) how your personal information is used in medical research?”

Single-select multiple-choice questions make data easy to compare and tally—ideal for checking the pulse on key issues. Example:

What is your main worry about your data in a clinical trial?

  • My data might be used for marketing

  • Someone might steal my data

  • My data might be identified even if anonymized

  • I have no concerns

NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is perfect for quickly quantifying trust or willingness to recommend participation, with smart followups for promoters, passives, or detractors. You can instantly build an NPS survey for this topic and audience. Example:

On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend participating in this clinical trial to someone who is concerned about data privacy?

Followup questions to uncover "the why". These go deeper after an initial response—useful when you need to clarify, probe, or find the reason behind a choice. For example, if someone picks “data might be stolen” as a top concern, a good followup is:

  • What about data security concerns you most—potential hacking, unauthorized staff access, or something else?

If you want to explore more question examples and get expert tips, check out our full guide on best questions for a clinical trial participants survey about data privacy concerns.

What is a conversational survey?

We believe a conversational survey is a dynamic, chat-like experience that adapts to the respondent, not just a static list of questions. It’s fluid, engaging, and asks smart followups based on what people say, rather than stopping short at one-size-fits-all forms. The big difference between using an AI survey generator and building a traditional survey manually is the speed, quality, and depth of insights you can unlock:

Manual Surveys

AI-generated Conversational Surveys

Manual writing and logic setup

Instanly generated, expert-level questions

No dynamic followup, rigid structure

Real-time followup driven by context and respondent answers

Slower, less engaging user experience

Feels like a real conversation—higher completion rates

Painful to update or edit content

AI-survey editor—describe the change, it's updated instantly

Why use AI for clinical trial participant surveys? Automated survey creation offloads mental effort and speeds up iteration—no more spreadsheet drudgery or logic headaches. Plus, when you use an AI survey builder, you tap into expert-level knowledge, keeping up-to-date with trends like anonymization and latest privacy risks.

Explore our conversational survey generator if you want to experience what a modern, participant-friendly workflow feels like. And if you’re curious how these actually get built, this guide breaks down the survey editor.

Specific leads the way in delivering best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys—making both responding and interpreting feedback smooth, efficient, and deeply insightful.

If you want a more hands-on explanation, see this detailed walkthrough: how to analyze responses from a clinical trial participants survey about data privacy concerns.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are a game changer for survey quality. If you just accept every first response, you’ll often miss the core “why” driving participant attitudes. That’s why we built automated followups—learn more about our AI-powered follow-up question feature—into every conversational survey.

  • Clinical Trial Participant: I’m worried about my health information being misused.

  • AI follow-up: Could you share more about what specific misuse you’re most concerned about—such as data being sold to third parties or used without your permission?

How many followups to ask? Generally, two to three targeted follow-ups give you enough detail without turning the survey into an interrogation. There’s also a setting to skip to the next question once you have the answer you need. Specific lets you tune this for each survey question—so you’re always in control.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of “one-and-done” responses, you’re running a real (albeit automated) conversation that respectfully probes, clarifies, and discovers the full picture.

Qualitative analysis is easy: With all these rich, varied responses, it might sound overwhelming to process—but that’s where AI shines too. See how easy it is to analyze AI survey responses or review advanced techniques in this step-by-step analysis guide.

These automated followup questions are a whole new level—if you haven’t tried building a survey yet, give it a spin and see how seamless, human, and insightful the respondent experience can be.

See this data privacy concerns survey example now

See how conversational AI surveys instantly deliver meaningful, nuanced feedback from clinical trial participants—no manual editing, no missed insights, just smarter, better research. Try it now to experience effortless, expert survey creation and open the door to richer participant input.

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Sources

  1. NEJM. Survey on clinical trial participant attitudes about data privacy and data sharing

  2. Axios. Medical data privacy and AI-based MRI scan reconstruction

  3. Wikipedia. HIPAA and health data privacy regulation

  4. RWS. Innovations in patient data privacy for clinical trials

  5. NIH PMC. Data anonymization practices and access controls in research privacy

  6. Language Scientific. The importance of confidentiality in clinical trials

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.