Searching Privately

Survey Flow
Standard: Consent Form Block (1 Question)
Block: Demographics & questions (22 Questions)
Standard: Agree Disagree questions (4 Questions)
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Start of Block: Consent Form Block
 • Welcome to my research study on young users' perception towards Web search. I am
Akshada Dhadge, Masters student at University of Strathclyde conducting this survey for my
dissertation on young users’ perception towards private and open web search. This study is
being conducted under the guidance of my supervisor, Dr. Leif Azzopardi.

• The purpose of the survey is to know about young users’ attitude/behaviour when web
searching. It is to analyse the prevalence of both private and open web searches among young
people (18 to 25 years of age) in the UK. The research also aims to critically compare the
perception of the youth of both the searches (private and open) and also to make suggestions
for how to improve the way people search the web to mitigate risks related to privacy & security
for the young generation in both web search style.

• Your participation in this research is voluntary. You have the right to withdraw at any point
during the study, for any reason, and without any prejudice. Your data will be kept strictly
confidential and anonymised and not be linked with you or your ID. The results from this
questionnaire will be summarized and quoted in my thesis and may be published in a
conference or journal. The survey will take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes of your time.

• By clicking the "consent" option below, you acknowledge that your participation in the study is
voluntary, you are 18 years of age, and that you are aware that you may withdraw your
participation at any time during the study.

I confirm that I am willing to participate in this study and agree to the study terms and
conditions.
o Yes, I give consent (1)
o No, I do not want to participate in the study (2)
Skip To: End of Survey If = 2
End of Block: Consent Form Block
Start of Block: Demographics & questions
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Q1 Sex
o Male (1)
o Female (2)
o Prefer not to say (3)
o Other (4)
Q2 Age
o 18 (1)
o 19 (2)
o 20 (3)
o 21 (4)
o 22 (5)
o 23 (6)
o 24 (7)
o 25+ (8)
Q3 What is your current employment status?
o Student (1)
o Employed (2)
o Unemployed (3)
o Other (4) __________________________________________________
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If Q3 = 1
Q3.1 What is your field of study / major?
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If Q3 = 2
Q3.2 What area/field do you work in (e.g., hospitality, education, engineering, etc.)?
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Q4 How often do you search the web?
o Many times a day (1)
o Once per day (2)
o Once per week (3)
o Once per month (4)
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If Q4 = 1
Q4.1 How many times on average do you search the web per day? (Please enter a number.)
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Q5 Which search engine do you use most frequently?
▢ Brave (1)
▢ Firefox (2)
▢ Google Chrome (3)
▢ Internet Explorer (4)
▢ Microsoft Edge (5)
▢ Safari (6)
▢ Other (7) __________________________________________________
Q6 While searching do you use any of the below?(Check all that apply)
▢ Anonymous search engines (1)
▢ Browser extension (2)
▢ Incognito browser (3)
▢ Proxy servers (4)
▢ Tor network (5)
▢ Virtual Private Network(VPN) (6)
▢ None of the above (7)
▢ I am not aware what many of these are (8)
Display This Question:
If Q6 = 4
Q6.1 Why do you use a Proxy Server when searching?
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If Q6 = 5
Q6.2 Why do you use Tor network when searching?
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If Q6 = 1
Q6.3 What are the main reasons you use Anonymous search?
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If Q6 = 3
Q6.4 What are the main reasons you use incognito browser?
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Q7 Are you aware that you can clear your web browser history?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Display This Question:
If Q7 = 1
Q7.1 How often do you clear browsing history after web searches?
o Always (1)
o Most Often (2)
o Sometimes (3)
o Rarely (4)
o Never (5)
Display This Question:
If Q7.1 != 5
Q7.2 Why do you clear the browser history?
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Q8 How often do you conduct Private/Incognito web searches?
o Always (5)
o Most Often (1)
o Sometimes (2)
o Rarely (3)
o Never (4)
Display This Question:
If Q8 != 4
Q9 What are your main reasons of conducting incognito/private web searches?(Check all that
apply)
▢ Anonymity (1)
▢ Avoiding advertisements (2)
▢ Fear of judgment or social repercussions (3)
▢ Gaining insights about relevance and ranking algorithms (4)
▢ Prevent tracking by previous websites visited (5)
▢ Prevent location tracking (6)
▢ Protection from viruses/malware (7)
▢ Unbiased search results (8)
▢ Other (Please specify) (9)
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If Q8 != 4
Q10 What kind of topics do you look at while performing private search?
▢ Career related Advice / Info (1)
▢ Legal Matters / Concerns (2)
▢ Health Concerns / Symptoms (3)
▢ Finance / Banking / Investments (4)
▢ Relationship Advice / Issues (5)
▢ Sexual Content / Pornography (6)
▢ Political Content / Issues (7)
▢ Entertainment / Music / Cinema / Etc (8)
▢ Other(Please specify) (9)
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Q11 How concerned are you about your online privacy when conducting searches about:
 Very Somewhat Little Not Not
concerned concerned Neutral (3) concerned concerned Applicable
(1) (2) (4) (5) (6)
Career
related
Advice / o o o o o o
Info (1)

Relationshi
ps (2) o o o o o o
Legal
Matters /
Concerns o o o o o o
(3)
Health
Concerns /
Symptoms o o o o o o
(4)
Relationshi
p Advice /
Issues (5)
o o o o o o
Finance /
Banking /
Investment o o o o o o
s (6)
Sexual
Content /
Pornograp o o o o o o
hy (7)
Political
Content /
Issues (8)
o o o o o o
Entertainm
ent /
Music /
Cinema /
o o o o o o
Etc (9)
Q11.1 How concerned would you be if the following found out about what you were searching
for:
 Very Somewhat Little Not Not
concerned Concerned Neutral (3) concerned concerned Applicable
(1) (2) (4) (5) (6)
Colleagues
/
Coworkers o o o o o o
(1)

Friends (2) o o o o o o
Family
Members
(3)
o o o o o o
Governme
nt agencies
(4)
o o o o o o
Partner/
Spouse (5) o o o o o o
Other(Plea
se specify)
(6)
o o o o o o
Q11.2 What other things would you be concerned about?
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End of Block: Demographics & questions
Start of Block: Agree Disagree questions
Q12 To what extend do you agree or disagree with the following statements:
 Neither agree
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
nor disagree
disagree (1) disagree (2) agree (4) agree (5)
(3)
1. I believe
there are
online privacy
threats while o o o o o
searching the
web (1)
2. To
safeguard my
online
privacy, I
think using
private web
o o o o o
search
techniques is
key. (2)
3. I believe
my personal
information is
jeopardised
while o o o o o
conducting
web searches
(3)
4. I am very
confident that
I can use
private web
search
techniques o o o o o
effectively to
protect my
privacy/securi
ty (4)
5.
Advertisemen
ts targeted
towards me
based on my
previous web o o o o o
search
activity and
history, worry
me (5)
6. It is crucial
to go beyond
just using
private/incog
nito web
search o o o o o
methods to
strengthen
privacy/securi
ty (6)
7. When
doing open
web
searches, I'm
worried about
online
o o o o o
surveillance
watching my
conduct. (7)
8. I perceive
using private
web
searching
modes would
give me wider
scope and
alternative o o o o o
viewpoints
that aren't
there when
using open
web search
(8)
9. Gaining
knowledge
about the
difference
between
private and
open web
searches
o o o o o
would make
an impact on
the
youngsters
(9)
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Q13 Can you provide some examples of things that you have searched for that you wouldn't
want other people to know about?
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Q14 If someone looked through your search history and the content that you looked at what
kinds of things could would they know about you and your life?
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Q15 Please add any concerns that you have about your privacy when searching the web?
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End of Block: Agree Disagree questions
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