India/User Research

This survey is open only to Firefox Student Ambassadors who registered for the User Research project. 
(Registrations are closed now)

Project Goal

Goal: Find system configuration of Windows desktop/laptop/tablet computer users.

Task

Reach out to Windows desktops/laptops/tablets users. 
(If you are reaching to a Mac/Linux/Android system, contact us for more details).

Reach out to two types of target groups equally to collect data.

• 1. Users having Firefox in their Computer
• 2. Users without Firefox in their Computer

Step 0:

• Carry a offline version of this wiki with instructions in your mobile/laptop/tablet (or)
• Take a printout of this wiki

Step 1: Get Permission

• You must have the users' permission to view/upload their computers' system information
• We do not need the users' name, email or any other information that personally identifies them

Step 2: Collecting data with permission

• Format the USB drive before inserting into user's computer.
• To find system configuration on Windows, use msinfo32 (Step by step instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Find-System-Specs)
  • You can download the steps for your offline reference here.
• Copy the msinfo32 file to USB drive

Step 3: Ask Questions

• 1. This desktop/laptop/tablet computer is a

• • Personal computer at a home
  • Shared computer at a home
  • Computer at work
  • Computer at an internet cafe or library
  • Other (please specify) Please enter an 'other' value for this selection.

• 2. This desktop/laptop/tablet computer is used to

• • Prepare for scheduled activities (e.g. presentation for school/work, find route to meeting/vacation, etc)
  • Interact with people (e.g. email, IM, voice/video chat, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc)
  • Seek products or services (e.g. research or compare products/prices, actual payments, etc)
  • Discover information (e.g. news, magazines, books, articles, reports, journals, etc)
  • Participate in hobbies and interests (e.g. photography, art, collect articles, write essays/novels/blogs..., etc)
  • Entertain (e.g. watch funny video, play games, read gossip pages, listen to music, etc)

   Manage life (e.g. budget, grocery list, keep track of health - BP/weight/..., stock portfolio, etc)	
   Other (please specify) Please enter an 'other' value for this selection.	

Step 4: Uploading data

- There are two options to upload the data:

• 1. Directly uploading 'msinfo log file'
  • Before uploading the file, rename it to [your-first-name][count-of-files-you-uploaded].txt
• 2. If the user does not permit uploading 'msinfo log file', read msinfo output and type below

Tools & Resources

• Selected FSAs will receive a confirmation email to participate in the project.
• The confirmation email will have further instructions and a form to request for a USB drive.

Purpose of the USB drives

• 1. Avoid using the users' Internet connection to upload the msinfo files (they tend to be large ~ 1MB-10MB ), especially in cases where the users' Internet connection cost is based on time spent online or based on amount of data transmitted.
• 2. Avoid letting users access the survey forms. Only FSAs must access the survey forms. This helps avoid privacy issues, e.g. users might type in other personal information which we do not need. We need only the FSAs' email addresses, not the users' email addresses.
• 3. USB drives are meant to help FSAs gather the msinfo files without getting stuck in privacy issues, and then upload msinfo files using the survey form to Mozilla.

Precaution to be taken

• The msinfo files are plain text files. They should contain no viruses.
• No personally identifiable information must be taken from users.
• No other files must be copied to the USB drives during this exercise to avoid viruses.
• If the FSA is carrying a laptop during the exercise of meeting non-users and users,
  • they must format the USB drive after getting each msinfo file(& uploading to the survey form) and before inserting into another user's computer.
• Ideally, they should also run a virus scanner while copying the file to their laptop.
  • No viruses/malicious code must be spread to users computers.
• Do no harm users computers. In other words, it must cost the users nothing, before during or after the study. So, no user's money should be spent.

Important Instructions

• It is important that for every computer with Firefox, you must find one computer without Firefox.
• If the computer has more than one user, ask for the total number of users
• Find the oldest to the youngest computers - we don't want only the most recent ones
• Don't go into unsafe places or places where you are not confident about to gather the data. Your safety is more important than the data.
• Do not collect the data in unauthorized ways, always ask permission.

What do you get?

• Help Mozilla build a better Firefox and in-turn let hundreds and thousand of users have a better web experience.
• FSAs who successfully complete the task by following above instructions will get opportunity for recognition(more information soon!).

NOTE: It is important that while collecting data, for every computer with Firefox, you must find one computer
without Firefox. 

Example: If you collect data from 4 computers with Firefox, you must find another 4
computers without Firefox to collect data. Then only the project is said to be completed.

Tips

• Keep a offline version of this wiki with instructions + steps to collect the specs
• Carry a printout of the same to cross-check if you are on track with the procedure