Using questionnaires for online assessment

'Is it legal', 'can I do this' type questions and discussions.
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MrGreenhill
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Using questionnaires for online assessment

Post by MrGreenhill »

I'm working on a project with a psychology clinic who want to create a self-assessment tool for prospective patients to use online before they come to therapy. Can such a self-assessment tool be sold to customers online using questions based on clinical questionnaires or are there copyright laws restricting this?
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AndyJ
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Re: Using questionnaires for online assessment

Post by AndyJ »

Hi MrGreenhill,

If you are creating the questionnaires yourself, ie you are thinking up and constructing the sentences and layout of the questionnaire, then you would own the copyright in your creation and there would be no issue with you using the questionnaires online; however if you are employed by the clinic and they have given you this task, then it is likely that they, as your employer, will own the copyright (see section 11(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988), and thus they would have the final say in how the questionnaires were published.

If the questions had been written by someone else then all of that would apply to them with respect to copyright, and you or the clinic with which you are working would need to obtain a licence from the copyright holder before using their work for your own self-assessment project.

I hope that answers your question.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
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