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This document has been prepared to provide information to students on the research policy being adopted by Jobsplus on granting access to customers for research purposes as well as for the provision of statistical data. The policy is intended to be followed by all those requesting data or information from Jobsplus for research purposes. Lack of adherence to this policy by the student/s concerned may result into the breaching of the Data Protection Act Cap 440.

Personal data is collected and held by Jobsplus and is used by Jobsplus and/or transferred to third parties in order to fulfil its functions according to the provisions of the Jobsplus Act CAP 343.

Personal data is collected and held by Jobsplus and is used by Jobsplus and/or transferred

(i) Request for the provision of statistical data for research purposes

1. Any student who requests statistical data from Jobsplus must sign the Students’ Research Policy and fill in the form included in Appendix A. Both documents are to be forwarded to the Labour Market Analysis Unit.
2. After submitting a request, the Labour Market Analysis Unit shall contact the student within five working days from the date of submission of the request.

(ii) Request to access Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees for research purposes

1. Any student who wishes to conduct research at Jobsplus shall contact the Labour Market Analysis Unit, which is in charge of research within Jobsplus.
2. When making a formal request, students must attach an original letter on their educational institution’s letterhead, signed by their supervisor together with the institution’s rubber stamp, describing briefly their research proposal and the information required from Jobsplus, their method of research, sampling description (including sampling population and sample size) as well as a detailed list of customers and/or staff which the student wishes to access. The student must declare that s/he shall assume responsibility on the processing of any personal data obtained through the assistance of Jobsplus in accordance with the Data Protection Act, CAP 440.
3. If students request data for other purposes, other than dissertation purposes, an original letter on their educational institution’s letterhead, signed by their lecturer (including the institution’s rubberstamp) is requested, describing what is being requested and why the data is needed. The student must declare that s/he shall assume responsibility on the processing of any personal data obtained through the assistance of Jobsplus in accordance with the Data Protection Act, CAP 440.
4. A copy of the original letter, signed policy and the duly filled in form could be forwarded to the Labour Market Analysis Unit by email, post or by hand.

(iii) Request for statistical data and request to access Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees

Any student who requests to access both Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees as well as statistical data, must attach an original letter on their educational institution’s letterhead, signed by their supervisor together with the institution’s rubber stamp, describing briefly their request both for statistical data as well as their request to access Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees. Appendix A need not be filled. Provision (ii) above must be adhered to. 

(iv)  Approval from the Labour Market Analysis Unit

1. Upon submission of all information requested, the Labour Market Analysis Unit shall contact the student within five working days and not later than ten working days.
2. Approval or otherwise of the request is solely at the discretion of Jobsplus.
3. If the request is approved, an approval letter from Jobsplus is issued and forwarded to the student by email and by post. 
4. If the request is not approved, Jobsplus shall provide an explanation of the main reasons for this decision.
5. If the Labour Market Analysis Unit does not receive any feedback from the student within four weeks from the date of submission of the original request, the request will be considered as closed. 

(v) Request for Jobsplus to disseminate questionnaires to specific target groups

1. If the request involves the dissemination of questionnaires by Jobsplus, approval or otherwise shall be based on a number of factors:
   
   1. Whether research is related to the labour market;
   2. If target groups requested could be obtained from other available sources;
   3. If request is in line with the Data Protection Act;
2. If the request is approved:
   
   1. Jobsplus requests a copy of the final questionnaire before it is disseminated; Jobsplus has the right to accept or otherwise any information found in the questionnaire;
   2. Jobsplus requests a covering letter, to be sent with the questionnaire, which should include the following: research question and objective of study, period of study, why target group was chosen, as well as researcher’s contact details;
   3. Jobsplus shall send a link with the questionnaire (to include the covering letter) through its mail shot; the link is to be provided by the researcher and no reference to Jobsplus shall be made;
   4. Sampling details should be explained clearly;
   5. Jobsplus is to inform the student about the size of the sample the questionnaire shall be distributed to;
   6. Jobsplus shall not be held accountable for the level of responses received;
   7. Responses, clarification queries or follow-up questions are to be handled directly by the student;
   8. The following disclaimer shall be included in the mail shot sent by Jobsplus:

“The responsibility for this survey rests solely on the author(s), and the publication does not constitute an endorsement by Jobsplus of the questions, opinions and conclusions expressed in it”.

(vi)  Approval from the respective institution’s Ethics Committee, where applicable

All research involving human subjects requires approval from the University Research Ethics Committee. The following procedures must be followed:

University students shall contact the University Research and Ethics Committee and seek its approval to conduct the research. Details of the University Research and Ethics Committee including an application form for students as well as dates of meetings of the Committee are available at the Committee’s website.

MCAST students shall follow MCAST’s Research Ethics Policy and Procedure found in the following link.

In the case of students who are not affiliated with the University of Malta, but who are reading for a foreign qualification and are carrying out research on human subjects locally, ethical approval shall still be required from the University of Malta Research and Ethics Committee.

These procedures are being requested by the Data Protection Act Commission in order to safeguard the rights and welfare of human research subjects. More information can be found in the document “Processing of personal data for research and statistics” compiled by the Information and Data Protection Commissioner, downloadable here (a copy of this document can be found in the annex).

In cases where the educational institutions do not have a Research and Ethics Committee, ethical approval shall be sought from the Jobsplus^[4].

For the purpose of the ethics application, Jobsplus will contact the student and shall approve or otherwise the request based on whether what is being requested is in line with Jobsplus’ Research Policy. However, the approval or otherwise from Jobsplus shall be final when all requirements as explained in this policy are satisfied.

(vii) Access to data subjects

1. Before providing access to data subjects, provisional approval from Jobsplus will be provided to the student as part of the Ethics Committee requirements. Upon achieving ethical approval from the relevant Committee, the student should provide the related documents to the Labour Market Analysis Unit assisting him/her with the research.  This is requested for the final approval from Jobsplus.
2. The Labour Market Analysis Unit shall then liaise with the Division/s responsible for providing access to the data subjects required by the student.

(viii) Provision of copies of letters of consent received from data subjects

1. If the research involves meeting data subjects face to face by the interviewer, the student is requested to present a consent form to be reviewed by the Labour Market Analysis Unit. Appendix B presents a sample consent form which can be updated accordingly by the student and returned to the Unit. The student may choose to use a different consent form from that presented in this Policy.
2. Following approval from Jobsplus, consent forms shall be distributed by the student to the data subjects prior to the research. Data subjects must be provided with an original copy of the consent form, signed by both the interviewee and the interviewer. Copies of duly signed consent forms, in either soft or hard format are to be sent to the Labour Market Analysis Unit within five days of the interview.
3. If research is of a sensitive nature, Jobsplus will forward the consent form to the data subjects. In exceptional instances, the consent of parents/legal guardians shall also be requested. The list of data subjects who agree to participate in the research shall then be forwarded to the researcher.
4. Consent forms are required for reference in case any of the data subjects contacts Jobsplus requesting further information on the research.  In addition, the data subject is also entitled to retract his/her information. If the data subject were to make this request, the student shall be obliged to remove any information that is related to the subject in question.

(ix)  Assistance required during the period of research at Jobsplus

The Labour Market Analysis Unit shall act as the primary focal point to the student during the course of his/her research at Jobsplus and shall assist him/her in accessing data subjects and by providing, where available, the information required for undertaking the research. The Division responsible for research shall further liaise with the student should assistance with the research be required.

Jobsplus may be entitled to halt any ongoing process if it deems or suspects that the student is making use of the information for purposes other than those declared to Jobsplus. Jobsplus shall stop the research process with immediate effect if there is an infringement of any law committed by the student.

(x) Interview with Jobsplus employees

In the case where a student requests to interview Jobsplus employees, before submitting the thesis/analysis/report, the Labour Market Analysis Unit requests to validate those areas in the thesis/analysis/report where Jobsplus’ employees are referenced. Jobsplus has the right to seek clarification, accept or otherwise any referenced information.

The same applies if Jobsplus’ employees are referenced after a job placement and/or job shadowing at Jobsplus.

(xi) Submission of thesis/research analysis

When the analytical study is finalized, a maximum period of one month is being provided for the student to provide the Labour Market Analysis Unit with a copy (either a soft copy or a hard copy) of the report containing the research analysis or thesis.

If a student’s request is to be utilized as part of a presentation, a copy of the slide/s (either a soft copy or a hard copy) is to be presented to the Labour Market Analysis Unit.

If there are instances in which Jobsplus is interested in utilizing part/s or the whole analytical study, the student’s consent will be requested.

(xii) Publication

When a thesis is published, the following disclaimer must be included:

“The responsibility for the opinions and conclusions expressed in this publication rests solely on the author(s), and the publication does not constitute an endorsement by Jobsplus of the questions, opinions and conclusions expressed in it”

Jobsplus’ contribution is to be given credit in the thesis and any information/data provided must be cited as being provided by Jobsplus.

(xiii) Charges

All the services described above shall be provided free of charge.

(xiv) Terms and Conditions:

• Data shall only be collected and processed for the specific research purpose.
• Anonymity, confidentiality and privacy shall be ensured throughout the whole study.
• Personal identifications shall be replaced with pseudonymous data (Data Protection Act CAP 440).
• Information shall only be processed for the research purpose and shall be deleted or rendered anonymous once the purpose of the study has been achieved (Data Protection Act CAP 440).
• Personal data shall not be disclosed to other third parties.
• Caution and good practice is to be used when processing personal or sensitive information for research purposes.

Disclaimer:  Requests shall be handled according to the exigencies of Jobsplus. Students are advised to submit their requests in a timely manner.

(xv) Research Information and Attachments

Students’ Research Policy

Kindly fill in the information hereunder:

Attachments: (kindly tick appropriately)

(xvi) Agreement: Adherence with Jobsplus Research Policy

Dear Student,

Kindly sign in the space indicated below, together with your name and I.D. card number, to be able to utilise Jobsplus data within your research and thereby confirm agreement with the above mentioned guidelines.

‘Mr. /Ms. / Dr. ………………. of I.D. (……………..) binds himself/herself with the conditions outlined in this policy’.

“I hereby declare that all information provided in this information form is true and correct. I agree to abide by the policies outlined by Jobsplus. I further agree that all information collected shall be used solely for this research and deleted once the purpose of this research has been achieved.”

Signature: ____________________________Date:_________________________

NB: Please send a copy of the agreement and relevant forms to the following address:

Jobsplus

Labour Market Analysis Unit

EU Affairs, Labour Market Analysis and Employers Services Division

Hal Far Road

Hal Far BBG 3000

Or scanned copy to: research.jobsplus@gov.mt

You may also wish to contact us on 21654940/22201124 and ask for the Labour Market Analysis Unit for further enquiries.