User Experience in Digital Knowledge Environments Study

Use of Digital Resources and Tools for Research

The Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE) project is conducting a study aimed at identifying and understanding the ways in which social sciences and humanities readers engage with forms such as electronic scholarly editions, academic monographs, scholarly journal and essay collections, and electronic literature. This questionnaire comprises one aspect of this research. The findings from this study will be used to derive requirements for prototypical digital reading and research environments that will benefit the research community.

The questionnaire consists of 27 questions and should take between 20 and 30 minutes to complete.

Your identity will be kept confidential. All documents and participants will be identified only by code number. Digital data records will be kept on password-protected hard drives and on disks stored in locked filing cabinets. Only the principal investigator and the co-investigators will have access to the data. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary and you may refuse to participate or withdraw from the study at any time.

If you complete and submit this questionnaire it will be assumed that you are consenting to participate.

Thank you in advance for your time. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Karen Taylor at 1-604-737-2873 (Canada) or katay164@interchange.ubc.ca.
 

Computer and Internet use

1.1.  How long have you been using computers?
 
 
1.2.  Have you completed any of the following tasks with a computer?
 
Select all that apply.
 
 
1.3.  How long have you been using the Internet?
 
 
1.4.  On average, how many days per week do you use the Internet for research and/or teaching purposes?
 
 
1.5.  On the days you use the Internet for research and/or teaching purposes, how many hours per day do you spend on average?
 
 

Reading preferences

2.1.  What percent of your academic reading (journals, monographs, or source materials) do you complete on screen?
 
 
2.2.  Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements.
 
 Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly agree
I prefer to read journal articles and other critical materials on screen.
I prefer to read printed copies of journal articles and other critical materials.
I prefer to read source materials such as literature or historical documents on screen.
I prefer to read printed copies of source materials such as literature or historical documents.
 
2.3.  Are there any situations in which you find yourself preferring the printed form of a text when a digital version is also available? Please explain.
 
 
2.4.  What devices do you use to read digital materials?
 
Check all that apply.
 
 
2.5.  What are your thoughts about how existing digital resources (e.g., online journals, monographs, scholarly editions, etc.) and tools for reading (e.g., desktop/laptop computers and mobile devices) might be improved?
 
 

Use of digital resources and tools for research and teaching

3.1.  Please indicate how frequently you use the following methods to find scholarly information pertinent to your research or teaching.
 
 NeverRarelySometimesOftenVery Often
Keyword searches through a library gateway (e.g., catalogues, databases or subject guides)
Keyword searches through Google Scholar
Keyword Internet searches
Citation chaining (e.g., following references in the bibliography of a key article)
Consulting peers or experts
Browsing library stacks
Browsing print journals
Browsing electronic journals
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)
 
3.2.  Please indicate the extent to which you use the following types of digital collections.
 
 Frequency of use  In which contexts do you use these collections? Select all that apply.
NeverRarelySometimesOftenVery OftenTeachingResearchPersonal
Online scholarly editions or archives of literary and historical source materials such as the Blake Archive and the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
Linguistic corpora such as the International Corpus of English
Online criticism such as scholarly journals or essay collections
Digital academic monographs
Electronic literature such as hypertext fiction, Flash poetry, etc
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)
 
3.3.  Please indicate the extent to which you use the following digital tools for analysis or representation of data/text.
 
 Frequency of use  In which contexts do you use these tools? Select all that apply.
NeverRarelySometimesOftenVery OftenTeachingResearchPersonal
Text analysis software such as HyperPo or Voyeur
Electronic concordances
Text visualization software such as TextArc
Annotation tools such as Pliny
Timeline software for temporal representation of data
GIS mapping software for representation of data linked to location
Software such as SPSS for statistical analysis of numeric data
Software such as NVivo or AtlasTI for qualitative data analysis
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)
 
3.4.  Please indicate the extent to which you use the following information management and communication aids.
 
 Frequency of use  In which contexts do you use these tools? Select all that apply.
NeverRarelySometimesOftenVery OftenTeachingResearchPersonal
Online bibliographic management systems such as RefWorks or Zotero
Course management software such as Moodle, WebCT, or Blackboard
Project management software such as Basecamp, dotProject, or Project.net
Chat and/or instant messaging
Internet-based voice or video communication technologies such as Skype
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)
 
3.5.  Please indicate the extent to which you use the following forms of social media.
 
 Frequency of use  In which contexts do you use these forms of social media? Select all that apply.
NeverRarelySometimesOftenVery OftenTeachingResearchPersonal
Social bookmarking such as CiteULike or Delicious
Weblogs
Wikis
Wikipedia as an information source
Wikipedia as a contributor
Video sharing services such as YouTube
Immersive game worlds such as Second Life
Microblogging services such as Twitter
Photo sharing services such as Flickr
Social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace
Business networking sites such as LinkedIn
Password-protected spaces for collaborative writing such as Google Docs
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)
 
3.6.  Please identify up to three digital resources/tools you have found most useful in your research and teaching.
 
 Please describe the kinds of tasks and activities you have used this resource/tool for and comment on why you have found it useful.
Resource/tool #1
Resource/tool #2
Resource/tool #3
 
3.7.  Please identify up to three digital resources/tools you have found unhelpful or difficult to use.
 
 Please comment on why you have found this resource unhelpful or difficult to use.
Resource/tool #1
Resource/tool #2
Resource/tool #3
 
3.8.  Regarding the value of digital resources and tools in your research and teaching, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements:
 
 Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree
I could not do my research without access to digital resources.
Digital resources are useful for teaching.
I use computational techniques or tools in my research.
I feel supported in the use of digital technologies in my research and teaching.
I encourage students who have laptops to use them in class.
Access to knowledge via the Internet has improved the quality of my research.
I use computational techniques or tools in my teaching.
Digital resources are not of a sufficiently high quality to be useful to me in my research.
Access to knowledge via the Internet has improved the quality of my students' research.
 

Use of literary, historical or linguistic digital corpora

For our purposes here, any collection of more than one text online is a digital corpus. For example, a corpus may consist of a collection of literary or historical texts, or of samples of written or spoken language.

If you do not use digital corpora, please skip to question 5.1.

4.1.  Please identify which digital corpora (up to three) you use most frequently in your research.
 
 What features of this corpus do you find most useful? In what ways might this corpus be improved?
Digital corpus #1
Digital corpus #2
Digital corpus #3
 

Demographics and disciplinary background

5.1.  What is the highest level of education you have completed? *
 
 
5.2.  How many years of post-secondary education have you completed? *
 
 
5.3.  Which academic or professional group do you belong to?
 
Choose all that apply.
 
 
5.4.  What is your age? *
 

 
5.5.  What sex do you identify as? *
 
 
5.6.  In what country do you reside? *
 

 
5.7.  List your primary discipline followed by up to three other areas of specialty in order of their importance to your work.
 
(For example, English Literature, Early Modern Literature, Digital Humanities.)
 
Primary Field of Study:
Specialty area #1:
Specialty area #2:
Specialty area #3:
 
5.8.  Please use the box below to provide any information you feel may be useful in contextualizing your answers to any part of this survey.
 
 

Thank you for participating in this study

6.1.  If you would like to receive a copy of the final report, please provide your email address in the box below.
 
 
6.2.  We appreciate your willingness to participate in this study. In consideration of your time, you are eligible to participate in a draw to win a $150 (CAN) gift certificate for an online bookstore. If you would like to enter this draw, please provide your first name and email address so that we may contact you if your name is drawn.
 
Name:
Email:
 
Thank you for participating in this study. Please click SUBMIT to finish the questionnaire.
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