Security On-line Survey 2004
 

Survey Closed

Welcome to the Security On-line Survey 2004. The survey closed on 27 September 2004. During that time, about 470 visitors viewed our consent page. Of those, 367 gave their consent to participate and 237 persevered to the end, submitting answers to the questionnaire. The average time taken to complete the questionnaire was about 20 minutes. We logged a total of 109 hours of interaction with our questionnaire (that's more than 4.5 days), most of which was time donated to our project by strangers. Those who completed the questionnaire account for more than 77 of those hours (more than three days of effort). Needless to say, we are very grateful to all those who participated.

We are currently analyzing the results. When a final report is available, it will be posted at this location. The original call for participation is included below to provide historical context.

 

Have you recently used the Internet for on-line banking, on-line shopping, discussion forums, or similar activities that involve exchanging information with other people or organizations? If so, we want to hear about your experiences.

Scott Flinn and Dr. Joanna Lumsden of the Institute for Information Technology at the National Research Council (NRC) are currently looking for volunteers to participate in a questionnaire about Internet security and privacy. If you are interested in participating in this research, please read the details below.

 

Study Purpose & Procedure

We encounter various risks when we use the Internet. The computer software we use to access the Internet has features intended to help us recognize some of the risks, and to help us manage them. It is not yet known whether people find these features to be helpful, or whether they use the features effectively.

The purpose of this study is to explore this issue further. We would like to learn about how you perceive various risks, how you relate to them, and how (or if) you use the features available to help you manage them. Your participation would help us develop tools and technologies better suited to most people that would, over time, ultimately help make the Internet a more trustworthy place.

If you are willing to help us, we would like you to complete an on-line questionnaire on these topics. Your participation will be completely anonymous, and your responses will be discarded if you decide to discontinue at any time before you complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire should take between 10 and 20 minutes to complete and begins with a consent form containing additional information about participation.

 

About the Researchers

Scott Flinn and Dr. Joanna Lumsden are both research scientists at the National Research Council of Canada. Prior to joining NRC in 2002, Mr. Flinn worked for RSA Security, Inc. He has broad experience with Information Security, and specializes in the human factors of secure systems. Dr. Lumsden received her Ph.D. in Human Computer Interaction from the University of Glasgow, Scotland in 2001. Her current research interests include novel interaction techniques for mobile technology and the development of sound HCI evaluation techniques.

All research is conducted according to strict ethical and privacy principles that will be explained to you prior to beginning the questionnaire.

 

Participation Criteria

In order to participate in this study, you must satisfy all of the following criteria:

  • you can communicate effectively in the English language;
  • you are familiar with the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW); and
  • neither you nor your direct relatives (parents, spouse, children) are employed by or associated with the National Research Council.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please proceed to the questionnaire at this location:

http://www.humanweb.ca/SecurityOnlineSurvey/
 

Thank you.

Scott Flinn (Scott.Flinn@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Joanna Lumsden (Jo.Lumsden@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)