Research Data Policy

Last updated: January 2026

Overview

At Psyche, we believe in the power of collective data to advance psychological science. This policy explains how your data may be used for research purposes if you choose to opt in.

What is Research Contribution?

When you opt in to research contribution, you're allowing your de-identified data to be used alongside data from other users to:

  • Build normative datasets
  • Improve assessment accuracy
  • Advance scientific understanding of cognition and mental health

How We De-identify Your Data

Before any data is used for research purposes, we remove or transform identifying information:

Removed completely:

  • Name and email address
  • IP address
  • Precise timestamps (converted to relative time)
  • Any free-text responses that might contain identifying information

What remains:

  • Assessment responses and scores
  • Aggregated demographic information (age range, not exact age)
  • Performance patterns and metrics

How Research Data Is Used

Building Normative Benchmarks

Your data helps us understand what "typical" looks like across different populations. This makes your own results more meaningful by providing context.

Improving Assessments

Aggregate patterns help us:

  • Validate that our assessments measure what they claim to measure
  • Identify questions that may be confusing or biased
  • Refine scoring algorithms for better accuracy

Scientific Research

De-identified, aggregated data may be used in:

  • Internal research reports
  • Academic publications
  • Presentations at scientific conferences

Licensed to Researchers

Anonymized, aggregate data may be licensed to:

  • Academic institutions conducting psychological research
  • Research organizations studying cognition and mental health
  • Educational institutions developing assessment tools

This supports the broader scientific community while generating revenue to sustain and improve Psyche.

AI and Model Training

Anonymized response patterns may be used to:

  • Train machine learning models for improved assessment accuracy
  • Develop AI-powered insights and recommendations
  • Advance research in computational psychology

Important: Research data represents patterns across populations, not individual responses. Your specific answers to any single question are never isolated or shared. Only aggregate trends (e.g., "users aged 25-34 tend to score higher on X") are ever analyzed or shared.

What We Never Do

  • Link your identity to research data or shared datasets
  • Share individual-level data with third parties (only aggregate population patterns)
  • Sell your personal data or identifying information
  • Use your data for advertising or marketing
  • Allow re-identification of anonymized data
  • Share your individual assessment responses with anyone

Your Control

Opting In or Out

  • Research contribution is completely optional
  • You can change your preference anytime in your profile settings
  • Opting out does not affect your access to Psyche or your personal results

What Happens When You Opt Out

  • Your future data will not be included in research
  • Data already anonymized and aggregated cannot be removed (it's no longer linked to you)
  • Your personal results and history remain unaffected

Data Security

Research data is:

  • Encrypted at rest and in transit
  • Stored separately from identifying account information
  • Accessible only to authorized researchers
  • Subject to the same security standards as all Psyche data

Questions?

If you have questions about how your data is used for research, please contact us.

This policy may be updated periodically. Significant changes will be communicated via email or platform notification.