VPN Discovery Research Plan
User Research Plan
Goals
We aim to understand what's our user needs when using a VPN, and what products that they've been using to meet their challenges at the moment. Our second goal is to understand how much of privacy, security and anonymity they need and their willing to risk by using a VPN with other products than the Tor Browser.
Audience
Regular Tor users, specially Tor Browser for Android users.
Recruitment
We will use Tor Browser banner to recruit participants for this research, social media channels, such as Twitter and reddit.
Methodology
We will use a survey to run this research, in our self-hosted LimeSurvey, with closed questions in two screens.
Activities
Demographics
Our traditional demographics ask questions regarding gender, age, uses of Tor, need for privacy and security, and expertise in tech. Additionally, we want to know if our users use VPN, if they use it with Tor, with every service online, and how much they use. We also want to understand how they chose their vpn, if it is FOSS, if it is paid, if they have and use more than one vpn, and if they had abandoned a VPN before. We will ask which VPN they use.
User needs
We want to understand how much they need privacy, security and anonymity, and what are the risks they are willing to take to use a VPN with other services.
Description
Suggested Time
This survey will take between 5-10 minutes to be answered.
1.Introduction to the session
Welcome! This is a research to better understand Tor users' needs to privacy, security and anonymity when using other services outside of the Tor network. A public report will be released in the UX team gitlab repository.
Thank you for agreeing to be part of this study. This is a quantitative study, and it doesn't have any open-ended questions. You should take from 5-10 minutes do answer all questions, and all responses will be anonimized.
[ Privacy Policy ]
[ ] check box for consent
2. Activity
Demographics
D01 What device are you using to answer this survey at the moment?
[ mobile / cellphone ] [ tablet ] [ laptop or desktop computer ] [ Other: ]
D02 On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate your proficiency with technology and digital tools? (Consider an answer of 1 as "Not very proficient", and 5 as "Very proficient")
D03 On a scale of 1 to 5, how strongly do you believe you need to protect your privacy and security online? (Consider an answer of 1 as "I don't think I need protection", and 5 as "I really need protection")
D04 How old are you?
[ age range ]
D05 What gender do you identify as?
[ male ] [ female ] [ non-binary ] [ I don't want to disclose ] [ other: ]
D06 If you're comfortable sharing, in which country are you based at the moment? [ list of countries ]
D07 How did you hear about this survey?
[ Tor Browser Desktop Banner ] [ Tor Browser for Android Banner ] [ Social Media ] [ Mailing list ] [ reddit ] [ Word of mouth (via a friend colleague) ][ Other: ]
Technology uses
Q1 Do you currently use any Tor-powered products?
[ Yes ] [ No ]
If yes: Which Tor-powered products do you use?
[ Tor Browser Desktop ] [ Tor Browser for Android ] [ OnionShare ] [ Onion Browser ] [ Tails ] [SecureDrop] [ Orbot ] [ Other: ]
Q2 How often do you use Tor?
[ At least once a day ] [ At least once a week ] [ Very occasionally or in specific situations ] [ This is my first time using Tor ] [ I've never used Tor before ]
Q3 Why do you use Tor? Please organize this list from the top (strongly agree) to the bottom (strongly disagree). flow organizing reasons:
[ circumvent censorship ] [ security ] [ privacy ] [ anonymity ] [ access media streaming ] [ for work ] [ to do research ]
Q4 Do you currently use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)? [ yes ] [ no ]
If yes: Why do you use VPN? Please organize this list from the top (strongly agree) to the bottom (strongly disagree). flow organizing reasons:
[ circumvent censorship ] [ security ] [ privacy ] [ anonymity ] [ access media streaming ] [ for work ] [ to do research ]
If yes: Do you use your VPN and Tor at the same time?
[ yes ] [ no ]
If yes: On which devices do you use a VPN? Please rate the devices that you use VPN from the most used (3) to the least (1). list of devices:
[ mobile / cellphone ] [ tablet ] [ laptop or desktop computer ]
If yes: How often do you use a VPN?
[ All the time ] [ At least once a day ] [ At least once a week ] [ Very occasionally or in specific situations ]
If yes: Which VPN(s) do you use? (multiple choice - list of popular vpns)
[ TunnelBear ] [ Psiphon ] [ ProtonVPN ] [ Riseup VPN ] [ Bitmask ] [ NordVPN ] [ Mozilla VPN ] [ Mullvad ] [ Other: ]
If yes: What made you choose this VPN provider over the other options? Please organize this list from the top (strongly agree) to the bottom (strongly disagree). (flow organizing reasons: )
[ Security ] [ Privacy ] [ Anonymity ] [ It's free ] [ It's possible to pay to make it faster ] [ Someone I trust recommended to me ] [ I liked the way it looked ] [ Ease of use ] [ Saw it on Youtube or Twitch ]
If yes: Do you pay to use the VPN?
[ yes ] [ no ]
Second screen - User Needs
Tor is a program you can run on your computer that helps keep you safe on the Internet. It prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Generally it is impossible to have perfect anonymity, even with Tor. Tor does not protect all of your computer's Internet traffic when you run it. Tor only protects applications that are properly configured to send their Internet traffic through Tor.
Q5 Would you prefer to use a browser that covers your needs in terms of security, anonymity and privacy or a VPN that has the some of these features?
[ a browser ] [ a vpn ]
Q6 If a Tor-powered VPN was available for your cellphone, would you still use Tor Browser? [ yes ] [ no ]
If yes, What browser would you use?
[ Mozilla Firefox ] [ Brave ] [ Tor Browser ] [ Opera ] [ Google Chrome ] [Samsung Mobile Browser] [ Other: ]
Q7 Are you aware of the risks of fingerprinting when browsing the internet?
[ yes ] [ no ] [ I'm not sure what fingerprinting is ]
If yes, Would you use a Tor-powered VPN with third-party apps that don't fully defend against fingerprinting?
[ yes ] [ no ]
Last screen - Thank you!
Do you want to be informed and participate in our next study? Please, leave your e-mail:
Thank you for participating in this survey!