Hi all,

I am undergraduate student at the University of London conducting a piece of research among systems administrators and engineers. I was wondering whether those of you Linux professionals out here may be able to assist me in my research.

The study is about determining how likely systems administrators are to use online tools to compare backup applications before taking the trouble to install the applications and evaluate them hands-on.

I would be infinitely grateful if you could spare less than 5 minutes to share your views in my tiny little research survey.

https://sites.google.com/site/maletstudy12/

Thank you in advance for your kind help

Jason Malet

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"Long live Tux"

If you are permitted to, please share the results with us when you are done. This is one audience that would definitely be interested.

And welcome to LQ. Don't be a stranger.

Thank you to all the guys and girls that have responded to my little survey. More respondents are still welcome :-)

@frankbell, I'll be sure to report back once I have finished compiling the data. I will post my findings here.

Thank you all

Jason


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"Long live Tux"

I completed the survey and did not like it:

1. The roles question should not be a radio-button because people may have more than one role.
2. The backup software used question should not be a radio-button because people may use more than one of the listed solutions.
3. What is a "comparison website"? I always do a lot of online research before choosing software solutions and I have seldom found any site which is obviously a "comparison website" except for Wikipedia's pages with tables. The question should have a "don't know" option. I answered no because answering yes required listing it/them.
4. "Would you use a comparison website to evaluate different backup applications if one was available to you?" requires a "maybe" answer. Probably not if it cost money because the present free sites are adequate.

@catkin
Thanks for taking the time to help my research. The points you raise are valid. The first two in particular did come up in the design of the questionnaire. I wanted to make it as short and as simple as possible since I myself have a dislike for lengthy surveys:

1. There is an explanatory text under the first question which says "Choose the option that most closely describes what you do". It implies the role is probably more complex than the listing. Locking the options down will make data analysis easier, at least in context of my research.
2. The question about backup software also suggests that the user may be managing more than one. Hence the explanatory note "Please select the main backup software used in your organisation even if you use more than one." There is an "Other" option with a blank field where the respondent can specify the main application they use.
3. A comparison website is any online resources that you may have used to enable you to compare backup application side by side. Wikipedia is certainly an example.
4. This is a very good point. I am not sure how I missed that! A "maybe" option should be there.

Thank you very much