What is the stance on surveys?

Hey, Mods. I'm currently an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas and am working on my thesis study, which is a survey that focuses on mobile games and in-app purchases. Basically, I would just like to know if I would be allowed to post a link to the survey in the forums so that users may take it if they would like to do so. This site is an ideal source of participants and it would help me greatly with my research. The study is purely academic and I will not profit from the data. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I'm actually in the same boat. I already posted a survey here and it was deleted, though I am unsure if that was intentional on the part of the mods, or not. Very curious about this policy!

Normally we only allow one post to a thread, but give you are both asking the same question, my response to both of you is as follows:

We do not allow any surveys for external parties on this site unless you have got permission from the Community Manager to do so. This is due to data protection and Gamespot wishing to keep its users safe and their data safe. Some surveys are sadly done to try and get personal information from users and if Gamespot was to allow this to happen it could be damaging to this site. However, if you ask the Community Manager via PM (send it to @DigitalDame) she can then talk to you and see your request and if she will allow it or not. Usually it is a no, but when it is for educational purposes and you are not asking questions such as location data or specifics on age or whatever, then there is room for flexibility.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask away.