Research:Student use of free online information resources/Questions

Introduction

• Motivation for this survey
  • learn about what free online resources students use to learn for school
• Definition of "Free Online Resources"
  • these are NOT resources available through UW, don't require a fee or special credentials to access
  • provide information through websites, apps, downloadable content
  • Google/search engines don't count(?)
• Explanation of data sharing policy for this survey, IRB approval

Respondent characteristics

1. Which of the options below best describes your current enrollment status at UW? [select one]

• Undergraduate - Freshman
• Undergraduate - Sophomore
• Undergraduate - Junior
• Undergraduate - Senior
• Graduate - Masters program
• Graduate - PhD program
• Graduate - Certificate/professional program
• Other (please describe) _________

2. What is your major or intended major? [select one OR free response?]

• list of UW majors? or is that too long?

3. Which of the options below best describes your area of study? [select one]

• list of UW colleges? departments?
• OR, list of generic subject domains (natural science, social science, humanities, etc.)?

4. What is your first (native) language? [free response]

5. What other languages do you read and write fluently? [free response]

6. Which of the following types of devices do you use regularly to access the internet? [select all that apply]

• desktop computer
• laptop computer
• tablet
• smartphone
• other device (please describe)

Use of Free Online Information Resources

1. In the past 3 months, which of the following types of free online resources have you used to find information related to your major or area of study? [check all that apply]

• government websites
• news websites or blogs
• encyclopedias or dictionaries
• free online courses
• interactive tutorials or educational games
• question and answer websites
• audio downloads or streaming audio
• video downloads or streaming video
• text downloads
• social media
• online image repositories
• other _________

2. In the past 3 months, which free online resources have you used most frequently to find information related to your major or area of study? [list up to 5 resources]

resource name	language	primary device you use to access the resource
resource 1 name	[dropdown: major world languages. Default to English]	[dropdown: desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, other]
resource 2 name	""	""
resource 3 name	""	""
resource 4 name	""	""
resource 5 name	""	""

2a. (if any of the above are in languages other than English) Please describe why you use RESOURCENAME in LANGUAGENAME. [free response]

2b. (if any of the above are tablet or smartphone) Please describe why you use RESOURCENAME on a DEVICENAME? [free response]

3. How do you prefer to consume information from free online resource? [rank by importance]

• Reading articles or long texts
• Reading short posts or summaries
• Watching videos
• Listening to audio recordings
• Browsing image galleries
• Using interactive tutorials
• Other ________

4. Which of the following factors related to your prior knowledge of a particular free online resource are the most important to you? [rank by importance]

• my instructor recommended the resource
• my classmates recommended the resource
• the resource has a good reputation
• the resource is popular and widely used
• other _______

5. Which of the following factors related to the quality of information on a particular free online resource are the most important to you? [rank by importance]

• the information is up-to-date
• the information is accurate
• the information is comprehensive
• the information is presented in a way that is easy to understand
• other _______

6. Which of the following factors related to the availability on mobile devices of a free online resource are the most important to you? [rank by importance]

• I can download information from the resource to my mobile device
• I can access the resource through a web browser on my mobile device
• I can stream multimedia content from the resource on my mobile device
• I can use a free app to access the resource from my mobile device
• other ________

7. What free online resources do you use most to find general information across different subjects? Why? [free response]

8. What free online resource do you use most to find specific information related to your current coursework or research? Why? [free response]

9. What free online resource do you use most when you are using a mobile device? Why? [free response]