Online surveys are an effective content format, as well as a tool that allows you to establish a strong connection between the brand and the audience and find out their opinion about the product. In addition, about Questions increase your audience reach and user engagement; with the help of surveys, you show customers that you are interested in their opinion. Agency specialistsTexterra published several useful recommendations on how to conduct online surveys on their corporate blog.
What problems can be solved using surveys?
Surveys allow you to solve the following problems:
1. Receive real reviews about the product. Many companies face difficulties when trying to find out what consumers think about their product. Clients either do not respond or limit themselves to a standard unsubscribe. There are two ways out of this situation: conduct expensive, voluminous marketing research or experiment with surveys, receiving real audience responses on the website or on social networks for free.
2. Understand the needs and motives of audience behavior. Surveys help identify audience expectations and needs. This can help when planning and developing new products and improving business processes. By knowing your customers' needs, you can avoid serious mistakes.
3. Create and develop communities. Polls increase engagement and stimulate discussion. By participating in them, the consumer understands that communication with the company is two-way. In this way, the group of subscribers turns into a living community whose members interact with the brand and with each other.
To grow your community through surveys, show that you are interested in users' opinions. Share voting results and decisions made with participants
5. Increase traffic. Conducting high-quality surveys increases page traffic on the social network and website. To make this rule work, encourage users to share voting information. You can also use tools that automatically notify you that a user has completed a survey.
Types of surveys
Let's consider the types of surveys depending on the location of their distribution.
Surveys on the site. Publishing on a website is a convenient option for posting a survey, but it will not be enough. If only because only those who visited the site and were interested in the survey will vote.
Surveys sent by email. This distribution method is good because the survey is sent to the client individually.
Polls in messengers. With the growing popularity of instant messengers, the popularity of using them to solve marketing problems is also growing. You can conduct a survey by creating a message distribution in Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram and other instant messengers.
SMS surveys. This type of survey, on the one hand, can expand the reach of the audience – at the expense of people who do not have an Internet connection. But, on the other hand, if there is a fee to answer a survey, this may discourage potential respondents. And in general, this method of conducting surveys is ineffective.
A really good survey can captivate many users. To achieve this, it is important to take into account some nuances.
1. Choose a good location for the survey on the site. It's important to place your survey prominently on your homepage so users can find it right away. Many sites place surveys in the sidebar, separated by whitespace, so the survey is visible but not intrusive.
2. Select a relevant topic that will spark genuine interest among respondents. A well-designed survey should consist of questions that are of interest to respondents and can generate various discussions. Therefore, it is important to choose a relevant survey topic that will hook your target audience. If this happens, you will be able to receive not only feedback, but also new observations and knowledge that can be applied in your work.
3. Give respondents a chance to be heard. So, you've chosen an interesting topic for your survey. Now it's time to make sure you give respondents the opportunity to answer exactly the way they want. Review the answer options and make sure you provide a wide range of choices—people prefer to choose answers that can clearly identify their thoughts.
5. Don't ask questions about the future. As a rule, questions about what a person will do next do not lead to reliable answers - after all, everyone can talk, but not everyone can take it and do it. It is much more reasonable to ask what people have already done, what decisions they have made. And you will know whether to expect any action from the respondent.
6. Don't ask a lot of open-ended questions. To ensure that surveys provide you with structured data, use closed questions. Use, for example, question types such as multiple choice or comparative questions, which have multiple answer options. So, instead of asking “What do you think of our products?” It’s better to ask “Which statement most closely matches your impression of our products?” And provide answer options.
Another benefit of closed questions is that they allow for quick analysis (by providing structured data). Such a quick analysis will allow you to conduct regular surveys without making Herculean efforts. This is especially necessary for large brands or multi-brand companies.
You should not completely exclude open-ended questions from surveys - although they are complex, they provide more detailed answers
8. Indicate that the survey is being conducted by your company.. Be sure to indicate that the survey is being conducted by your company if you do not want to be mistaken for spam.
9. Avoid leading questions. There is a high probability that the respondent will answer leading questions not the way he thinks, but the way you want. So questions like “How did you like our last article?” It's better not to use it.
10. Offer a reward for completing a survey. To encourage customers to complete the survey, offer them some kind of reward. It could be a discount code or 200-300 rubles for your personal account - and it doesn’t require such a big expense. Moreover, your gift can stimulate the client to then make a purchase.
Survey Tools
To conduct a survey, you can use one of the following tools:
Simpoll– Russian-language service for conducting surveys. Basic functionality is available for free.
Anketolog– another Russian-language service for conducting surveys. The survey code can be embedded on the pages of the most popular social networks, including Vkontakte, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Odnoklassniki, and My World.
Survey Monkey– a service for conducting surveys with a Russian-language interface. Basic functionality is available for free. The user can embed surveys on website pages or in communities on social networks.
Various surveys are the most common methods of obtaining initial information in a particular area. The main types of surveys are characterized by the speed of obtaining results, efficiency, and simplicity. These parameters have made such studies in demand among politicians, entrepreneurs, and school teachers. To obtain reliable questions, the types of questions in the survey are selected taking into account the age of the respondents and their level of education.
Forms of conducting
Depending on the functions assigned to the survey, it can be carried out in two versions:
- interview;
- survey.
Features of the sociological survey
A sociological survey is a variant of primary sociological information. Its main types are based on an indirect or direct connection between the respondent and the researcher. The purpose of such a relationship will be to obtain specific data from the respondent in the form of answers to the questions posed.
The essence of the technique is to communicate directly or indirectly through a questionnaire with a group of people (respondents). Almost all types of sociological surveys involve question-and-answer dialogue. The specificity of such communication is that it must not only clearly comply with the algorithm, but also take into account that the participants will be ordinary people answering questions using their everyday experience. Types of sociological surveys are selected depending on the objectives of the study, requirements for the reliability and reliability of the information being studied, and organizational and economic capabilities.
The importance of sociological research
Such a survey plays a special role in various sociological studies. Its main purpose is to obtain sociological information about the state of collective, personal, public opinion, as well as facts, assessments, and events directly related to the activities of respondents. Scientists are convinced that almost 90 percent of important empirical information comes from sociological research. Various types of surveys are recognized as leading research into human consciousness. They are especially important for the analysis of social processes, as well as those phenomena that are inaccessible through simple observation.
Classification of contacts with respondents
Currently, it is customary to divide types of surveys into several main groups:
- personal conversations (face-to-face surveys);
- apartment (conducted at the place of immediate residence of respondents);
- street (carried out on the streets, in shopping centers);
- option with central location (hall-test).
Remote surveys
They involve obtaining information remotely. There is a certain classification of survey data:
- Internet surveys;
- telephone conversations;
- self-filled questionnaire forms.
Let's analyze the features of remote forms: telephone conversation and online survey.
Telephone survey
These types of surveys are indispensable in situations where exploratory research is carried out. Also, similar options are used for territories that are significantly distant from each other. How is a telephone survey carried out? First, you will need to create the largest possible database of telephone numbers of candidate respondents. Next, several numbers are randomly selected from the created telephone database, which will become direct participants in this study.
Advantages of this survey option:
- speed of execution;
- low cost of research;
- the use of a fairly large area in the survey;
- the possibility of involving different groups of respondents in research;
- no problems with quality control of interviewers’ work.
Among the main disadvantages of telephone research, we note significant limitations on the duration of the interview. In addition, this option is not always possible, since in many localities in Russia there are problems with telephone lines. If we analyze modern types of surveys, the telephone option will be the most efficient. It makes it possible to identify the opinions of different groups of the population on all issues. There is a division of such survey options according to the type of respondents used: interviews with legal entities, surveys of individuals.
There are certain stages in a telephone interview:
- development of questionnaires;
- creating a sample.
Depending on the purpose of the study, the sample can be targeted, when subscribers are selected according to certain criteria: age, position. These types of citizen surveys are carried out by interviewers trained in advance. They listen to the subscriber’s answers and enter them into a special electronic or printed questionnaire. Next, the questionnaires are processed, tables are created, graphs and diagrams are constructed. Specialists conduct analytical processing of the received data and provide the customer with a report. In it, all respondents’ answers are distributed into certain groups, the tables are accompanied by the main conclusions. Telephone surveys will be effective in those localities where more than 75 percent of the population has telephones. Otherwise, it will be difficult to talk about the reliability of the information that will be obtained as a result of the survey.
Why do telephone surveys?
These types of questionnaires are intended to identify the population’s attitude towards certain brands, products, and companies. A telephone survey makes it possible to quickly obtain information about how the market and consumers react to the actions of competitive companies. Such research guarantees, without significant financial costs, to carry out a market analysis before the start, as well as after the completion of promotions, to identify the effectiveness of the activities carried out.
Based on the results of a telephone survey, it is impossible to collect in-depth material, since there are restrictions on the degree of complexity of the questions and the time of conversation. Such a study is not suitable for studying the company’s income or analyzing the work of the management team.
Internet survey
Let's analyze different types of online surveys that allow you to collect sociological information on specific facts and events online.
Considering the multi-million army of Internet users, this research option is quite effective and gives good results. As the main advantages of such a survey, we note its efficiency. This testing also has its drawbacks, which should also be mentioned. The results are influenced by the attendance of those sites on the basis of which the survey is conducted. It is difficult for developers to control the actions of the respondent, so the results are highly questionable.
By the end of the last century, the World Wide Web began to be used by many sociologists to carry out serious research on current issues. Information can be received from all countries of the world and even from different continents. Thanks to Internet technologies, the collection of initial information for conducting research on various social processes is speeding up. IT allows you to conduct expert surveys, personal interviews, and virtual focus groups. In our country, sociological surveys conducted via the Internet are still considered a rare phenomenon. In European countries, such surveys are carried out much more often, replacing oral interviews. The types of oral questioning used in a regular interview do not allow obtaining the desired results in a short period of time. Network research has certain advantages over traditional forms.
Benefits of Internet Surveys
Such studies make it possible to save material and human resources, as well as time, while obtaining high-quality data. The decisive factor is precisely the saving of resources when carrying out online surveys. Traditional forms do not attract respondents, since they have to break away from current activities. If the questionnaire is presented on several pages, not all people have the patience to read it to the end. The disadvantage of a paper questionnaire is that it does not allow the respondent to evaluate the intermediate results of testing.
Internet tests provide individual feedback after completion of the survey, stimulating the respondent to systematically participate in such surveys. The Internet users surveyed develop a positive attitude towards such research and a desire to involve friends and colleagues in it. Scientists also highlight the ecological validity of online surveys. When interviewing, a person is in familiar, comfortable conditions. You can take the survey at any convenient time, so respondents have no desire to quickly get rid of the questionnaire. The methodology of such research involves direct visual contact between the respondent and the sociologist. As a result, a communicative situation is created in which there is no psychological discomfort. The absence of coercion, embarrassment, awkwardness, and nervousness characteristic of a classic survey guarantees frank and complete answers to the questions asked in the questionnaires.
Problems associated with the use of alcohol, drugs, and suicide are difficult to identify through regular surveys, since many view this as an attempt to invade private life. Traditional methods do not guarantee the anonymity of respondents, so the Internet copes with the problem of openness. Unlike paper interviewing, electronic surveys have extensive and detailed answers. This technique opens up new horizons for There are also certain technical and methodological problems in using online surveys.
First of all, it should be noted that the number of people with free access to the Internet is limited. In addition, the types of survey questionnaires are subject-specific and are not suitable for global research. Among the technical problems, we note the limitations of the proposed answer options. When the respondent enters his/her own option, difficulties arise in processing the survey results. There are also problems with the software, which may significantly distort the results obtained. Some respondents answer the same questionnaire several times, especially if the survey involves financial reward. As a result, the objectivity of the results is reduced, and one cannot speak of their reliability.
Comparison of telephone survey and Internet survey
When comparing these types and survey methods, sociologists give preference to Internet technologies. Telephone interviews are often met with refusal from potential respondents. About 10-15 percent agree to take part in research, the rest of the people just hang up. There is no interest in surveys, since the people being surveyed have no financial interest. Internet surveys face technical problems and are not accessible to villages remote from communications.
Surveys in schools
The most common types of questioning in the classroom: frontal, individual. Let us analyze the distinctive features of each option for testing students’ theoretical knowledge and practical skills, used by teachers of educational institutions. Suitable for quickly checking homework. For example, a teacher can ask children questions, involving the whole class in the work. These types of questioning in the classroom allow the teacher to assess the knowledge of students and the practical skills they have acquired in a short period of time.
Thematic dictations are suitable for chemistry and physics lessons. The teacher offers questions, the answers to which will be formulas or units of measurement of physical (chemical) quantities. The dictation test can also be carried out frontally, calling each student in the class to the board “in a chain”. Such a survey will take just a few minutes and will allow you to evaluate almost all students in the class. Teachers of the humanities (history, social studies, Russian language, literature) give preference to individual surveys. Of course, not only teachers, but also students themselves use questionnaires in their work. When engaged in extracurricular activities, working on their own research or project, the children use different types of surveys and types of interviews. First, the teacher explains to the child the specifics of conducting a survey, and only after that the young sociologist begins his own research.
Among the nuances that are important to pay attention to when preparing for sociological surveys is their complete anonymity. For example, a child uses a survey to find out which shampoos his classmates, teachers, and parents prefer to buy. Next, the young scientist conducts his own research in a chemical laboratory, armed with scientific methods, he finds out the effectiveness of this product. At the next stage of work, he compares the results of the survey with the results of the experiment and compares them.
In modern schools, surveys have become a common occurrence; not a single event is complete without them. For example, to assess the degree of comfort in the classroom, the psychologist asks the children to answer questionnaire questions. Then the results obtained are processed and the psychological state of the team is analyzed. When a teacher passes qualification tests, a survey of parents, students, and work colleagues is also provided. The results obtained are presented in the form of a graph or diagram and are attached to the teacher’s compliance with the declared category. Among the latest innovations used in the learning process are final tests for graduates of primary and secondary schools, offered in the form of tests.
Conclusion
Currently, in all areas of human activity, various types of survey methods are used: telephone interviews, Internet surveys, frontal conversations. Depending on the purpose, the optimal form, type, and duration of the survey are selected. The synthesis of interviewing and questioning is a telephone survey. It is mainly used during advertising and election campaigns. Surveys are used by science to solve practical problems. Statisticians have long used similar methods to collect information about labor resources, structure, and family expenses.
Journalists use a similar technique to determine the rating of programs and publications. TV journalists do not select respondents based on certain characteristics, so the research results are significantly distorted. Teachers use surveys of students as an option for monitoring acquired knowledge and checking homework. Doctors conduct a survey of primary patients, finding out information about existing diseases. The questions asked should take into account the psychological characteristics of the respondents and the situation that developed before the conversation. When thinking through a survey, the sociologist chooses one of the options: a questionnaire or an interview. Considering that the interview can be individual or group, its form is chosen in advance.
A common option for questioning is to distribute questionnaires to respondents. A similar survey can be conducted at the respondents’ place of residence or place of work. Thus, assessing the quality and efficiency of the work of public utilities involves surveys of residents. The questionnaire involves a certain set of questions, each of which reflects specific research objectives. The questionnaire has an introductory part, it contains an appeal to the respondent, explains the purpose and objectives of the survey, a brief description of the expected results, and their benefits. The questionnaire must also indicate the degree of anonymity of the survey.
In order for the questionnaire to be complete, it must have detailed instructions for filling out, name, place and year of publication.
Full-fledged socio-statistical diagnostics make it possible to obtain information about various social and economic transformations, the activities of municipal and state government bodies, and the impact of television and radio on young people.
Nadezhda Domanova Bulletin of the Moscow ISAR, No. 8, 1999
There is an opinion about the simplicity and convenience of sociological surveys. Indeed, if the authorities want to cut down a grove in a microdistrict, put garages on the site of a children's playground, build a new enterprise or a waste disposal site - they can conduct a survey of local residents and get weapons to confront the authorities who do not take into account the opinion of the population. The results of the survey can help in planning educational activities, and in work to attract personnel, and in other types of activities. In short, sociological surveys could be a useful tool in the work of NGOs. However, the idea that surveys are easy to prepare and conduct is erroneous.
How to conduct a sociological survey correctly so that its results have weight, how to avoid common mistakes in this matter?
Many people take up sociological surveys with great ease, considering it a simple matter.
And often they either receive data that cannot be properly processed, or they arrange everything in such a way that a person knowledgeable in this matter can easily prove the incompetence of those conducting the survey.
Common sense often disappears when composing questions. For example, surveys are widely used among students of various training seminars, where a direct question is asked about the degree of professionalism of the teacher or consultant at the seminar. The question is completely meaningless: if the respondent needs consultation and training, then it is difficult for him to assess the degree of professionalism of the teacher.
It is better not to undertake complex multifaceted research without specialists. But a simple survey with a small number of questions requiring simple, unambiguously interpreted answers like “yes-no”, “for-against” can easily be carried out by NGOs.
When undertaking a sociological survey, it is necessary to ensure its proper conduct and design. To avoid being accused of incompetence, manipulation or slander, the survey must be conducted according to the methodology accepted in the scientific community. You should always remember that you are conducting research, which is subject to the general requirements for scientific work: the problem, the research methodology, the results and the method of processing them must be clear to those who will get acquainted with your data. Only then can we talk about qualified work.
For example, writing that 90 percent of surveyed residents are against cutting down trees in their yard is not enough. It is not known who you interviewed. Maybe 10 pensioners from three shops. Then these data do not reflect the range of opinions of all residents of the house. Your position will be very vulnerable precisely because the survey methodology is not justified and described.
How should a survey be conducted so that its results are reliable and have weight for others?
It is not enough to conduct a sociological survey well; it must be properly designed in order to protect against accusations of unfoundedness and incompetence. The final document should consist of a description of the survey hypothesis, the text of the questionnaire, a description of the results obtained, and conclusions. Let us dwell in more detail on the hypothesis, since it is it that determines all subsequent stages and results of the work.
A hypothesis is a detailed justification and description of the research methodology. The hypothesis formulates the problem to be solved by the survey, the purpose of the survey, its topic and form, and the method of processing the data that will be obtained. It also justifies the choice of audience and indicates the expected results. When writing a hypothesis, you think through in advance all the stages of future research. This will help avoid unpleasant surprises at the data processing stage.
For example, let’s take some problem that “lies on the surface” and is familiar to many. We walk down the street and see piles of dogs here and there. Some citizens are outraged about this. The officials responsible for the city economy are unhappy with this. They cannot find a solution to the problem, so they are tightening measures against animal owners, citing public opinion: indignant citizens are demanding that order be restored.
Your public organization is trying to ensure that the problem is solved not by sharply reducing the number of dogs in the city and tightening measures against their owners. You have reason to believe that the “general indignation of citizens” about the heaps is an invention of officials justifying their actions. You decide to find out public opinion: conduct a sociological survey and find out the actual degree of indignation of the population.
When preparing any survey, we must remember that there are no absolutely objective results here, because the logic of the questions will always reflect the ideas and position of the authors of the questionnaire and be determined by their goals. At the same time, respondents cannot impose their logic. If you ask a person whether there is a problem with dog piles, he may well answer in the negative. But if you start to immediately find out his attitude to the problem, then it will automatically be recognized as existing. The person will not have the opportunity to think about whether there is a problem, but will most likely obediently reflect on how he relates to it and how to solve it,
So, you start by writing a survey hypothesis, in which, after formulating the problem, the purpose of the study, the survey methodology and processing the collected data, you justify the choice of the audience whose opinion interests you.
Justifying the choice of audience is a very important point in the work. In your hypothesis, you must indicate the opinions of which segments of the population and for what reason you will find out. Does it make sense, for example, to interview businessmen who drive cars, do not walk children and dogs, and generally do not set foot on lawns? Do you consider it necessary to interview specialists such as janitors, representatives of the administration and city services? On the one hand, in order to develop laws and regulations regarding dog walking, it is necessary to know their opinion, on the other hand, you may consider this opinion biased.
The survey can be continuous, then you write in the hypothesis that in order to get the most objective result, you should go around all the apartments of all the houses in your area. True, the question immediately arises of how many people and funds will be required for this. A full survey is very expensive and is only possible when you have no more than one or two questions, and they can be answered from behind a closed door or over the phone.
You can not interview everyone, but select representatives of different segments of the population and work with them. But it is necessary to justify the representativeness of this sample. Suppose you understand that in the survey you are interested in the opinion of families with children of preschool and primary school age. You may not interview all families, but, say, 50% of them. In the hypothesis, you need to provide data on the number of such families in the survey area, you need to find out the addresses of these families and visit every second apartment from this list. Or interview parents in kindergartens and clinics. You should also indicate whether you will interview every family member, or just one person, only parents (without grandparents), those who walk with children, or whoever turns up...
It is clear that the greater the number of respondents and the better the various nuances of the survey are taken into account, the more statistically reliable its results are. But in life, everything is determined by the real capabilities of a given research group: human, time and material resources.
It’s not enough to theoretically choose an audience; you need to avoid making mistakes and interview them specifically. And take into account that, depending on the time and place of the survey, the respondents will be very specific social groups, and not “average citizens.”
Therefore, to justify the reachability of the survey audience, the hypothesis must specify the time and location of the survey. If this happens in the morning, you will encounter pensioners and housewives. If you go door to door in the evening, you will be able to interview working family members, but you will miss the majority of young people who do not sit at home in the evenings. Children can be interviewed at school, and questionnaires can also be distributed at home so that parents can answer the questions. If you stand on the street and interview passersby, depending on the time of day, very different segments of the population will pass by, so you will get a completely different picture of opinions in the morning than in the evening. In the yard the range of basic responses will be different than on the street. If you interview pensioners with dogs, you will get one situation; without dogs, you will get a completely different one. All this is taken into account in the hypothesis, which explains in detail: who, when and where you are interviewing and why exactly them.
Compiling questionnaires is a very important stage of research. The hypothesis should clearly justify why these questions are being asked.
When compiling a questionnaire, you should always imagine how it will be processed. Questionnaires can be open or closed. In closed questions, a range of ready-made answers is given to the question posed, from which the respondent must select and mark one. This form is the most convenient to process. When you can mark multiple responses at once, processing becomes much more complex because you have to look for correlations between responses. The easiest way to process is a closed questionnaire with a small number of questions, with permission to mark only one answer for each. For example, you ask: “How do you feel about dogs?” Possible answers: “1. I love them; 2. I am indifferent to them; 3. I don’t love them.” After processing thousands of questionnaires, you will be able to clearly say how many people out of a thousand respondents love dogs, how many are indifferent, and how many do not like them. If we add two more answers: “I love them madly” and “I can’t stand them,” then we can already construct a scale of respondents’ attitudes toward dogs. But not only that: since the two extremes of attitude towards dogs are the most conflicting, it is possible to indirectly determine the potential aggressiveness of the audience in the event of taking radical measures to resolve the problem.
In our case, it is very important to find out whether the respondent has a dog, since a person who has a dog will most likely be calmer and more loyal to the piles of both his own and someone else’s dog. This is how the hypothesis should be written: we assume that people who own dogs are calmer towards heaps, and that housewives with children and no dogs are the most aggressive, because they are more afraid of pathogens and spend more time outside and see these heaps. And also pensioners who do not have dogs and react sharply to any disturbance of their peace. This assumption is called “expected results”.
Summing up, it will be possible to clearly say that, for example, out of forty dog owners, 97.5% are loyal to the problem of dog piles, and out of forty people who do not have dogs, 20% of housewives and 5% of pensioners are loyal, and, therefore, the hypothesis was confirmed . If it is not confirmed, this is also noted.
We can also limit ourselves to clarifying the relationship to the heaps themselves. You can still find out which solution to the problem will satisfy the respondent. And also what he can do to ensure that the problem is solved, and what he is ready to do if it is not solved. These are all separate questions, and each of them is justified in a hypothesis. You should think through the range of questions you should ask about this issue, as well as possible answers. To do this, it is necessary to study the problem itself well.
In open-ended questionnaires, the respondent is given the opportunity to compose his own answer. If you ask about attitudes towards dogs in such a questionnaire, you may well get answers like: “I have three dogs, there are so many problems with them, and I don’t know what to feed, everything has become so expensive.” Such questionnaires are very difficult to process. You won't be able to categorize the answers, and most of them will be wasted. Often, based on the material collected in this way, they write their own interpretation of public opinion, which has nothing in common with normal data processing. An open questionnaire can only be used if you are absolutely sure that each respondent will either answer “yes” or “no” or list several well-known terms (surnames, titles, etc.).
Semi-open questionnaires are also used. Along with a range of possible answers, they contain a line for those who want to give their own formulation: some people may be annoyed by the programmed nature of their answers. These questionnaires are optimal for pilot surveys on a given problem or surveys of specialists to find out possible answers not taken into account by the authors. They are more difficult to process than closed ones, but they can provide interesting, original additions to your options. There are also mixed questionnaires containing both open and closed questions.
A lot depends on the nature of the question. There are direct questions that imply only three answer options: “yes”, “no”, “difficult to answer”. Let's say the question is: Do you like dog poop? It is clear that to a question posed in this way you will receive 99 and 9 percent of the answers “no”. This way of questioning is very convenient for the sanitary and epidemiological station, which wants to ban keeping dogs in apartments. Or questions like “have you ever been bitten by dogs” or “do you consider dogs to be a source of rabies.” Such questions head-on are completely wild in the opinion of a specialist who wants to understand the problem. But collecting public opinion this way is a pleasure, since the answer is calculated unambiguously and the questionnaires are processed very simply. The deeper you try to understand the patterns of public opinion using a survey, the more difficult it will be to process opinions and study correlations.
Questionnaires can be anonymous or personalized. Often surveys are made anonymous because people want their name and address not to appear anywhere. However, this does not mean that a person’s gender, age, and occupation should not be noted. It is an occupation, profession or social status, and not a place of work. What exactly will be found out about the respondent and why should also be justified in the hypothesis.
If you need to get a yes-no answer, or to get someone to point their finger at their favorite candidate, a telephone survey is quite effective. Mail surveys allow you to reach a huge number of people. However, even with a self-addressed envelope, at best, 10-15% of questionnaires are returned. If you put the questionnaires (already in an envelope with a return address) in mailboxes, the return rate is already more than 30%. But you need to remember that active pensioners and children usually answer here, for whom the survey is a kind of game. And also those who are greatly affected by this problem, especially if they are negative. The rest of the mass of people who work, raise children and grandchildren, run around shopping, in short, are busy from morning to night, do not react or respond to such things.
Expert survey- survey of experts in the field of interest to you. It is carried out either to solve a problem or before a public opinion poll to test a hypothesis. It allows you to study the problem in more depth and competently approach the methodology for conducting a broad survey; formulate questions correctly. To do this, it is often enough to interview 10-15 specialists.
REGIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY "POISK"
MUNICIPAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
"TARA SECONDARY EDUCATION SCHOOL No. 5"
TAR MUNICIPAL DISTRICT
PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION AND USE
LICENSED SOFTWARE
PROVISIONS IN THE CITY OF TARE
Research
Students
Rudik Alexey and Belsky Maxim
Supervisor:
Computer Science and Mathematics Teacher
Afeld Vyacheslav Eduardovich
Tara 2011
| INTRODUCTION | 3 |
| CHAPTER I | 5 |
| THE PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF LICENSED SOFTWARE | |
| CHAPTER II | 9 |
| CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON THE PROBLEM | |
| CONCLUSION | 16 |
| LIST OF SOURCES AND LITERATURE USED | 17 |
| APPLICATIONS |
INTRODUCTION
Currently, the computerization of the population has crossed the threshold after which it is impossible to imagine the life of every resident of the country without this miracle of technology. At the same time, the understanding came that a computer is not only complete equipment, but also software, without which a computer is just a pile of iron.
When purchasing a disc with a particular computer program, buyers are increasingly thinking about why it is necessary to install licensed software on their computers; what differences exist between licensed and pirated programs; what consequences do they face if they use a pirated version?
For more than ten years, the research company IDC and the international association of software manufacturers BSA have been conducting research on the problem of using computer software (hereinafter referred to as software). Every year Russia is among the leaders of world piracy. At the same time, our country has not made sufficient efforts to combat this phenomenon. At the level of the Government of the Russian Federation in the 90s of the last century, laws were adopted to ensure the protection of intellectual property that corresponded to the international level. Effective implementation of these laws would eliminate the “black market” for software. Unfortunately, the actual benefit of these laws was low. Most often, activities in this direction were of a demonstration nature and were not carried out systematically. Thus, according to IDC and BSA, in 2005 the piracy level in our country was 87%. The situation began to change after the President of Russia adopted a new version of the Copyright Law in 2006, where one of the factors in reducing the level of piracy was the tightening of criminal liability.
At the time of the start of our research, the media published only materials about all-Russian and world piracy. There are no official data for the Omsk region and Tara district. Over the past few years, the regional newspaper “Tarskoe Priirtyshye” has not had a single publication about computer piracy. Although this problem is relevant for every computer owner. Since Tara is not a large city and is remote from the regional center, there are no specialized stores in the city that sell licensed software. In turn, this led to the filling of retail outlets with unlicensed disks with programs.
Object of study: distribution and use of licensed software.
Subject of study: distribution and use of licensed software in the city of Tara.
Purpose of the study: investigate the problem with the distribution and use of licensed software in the city of Tara.
Hypothesis: In the city of Tara there is a low percentage of distribution and use of licensed software.
Based on the purpose and hypothesis of this study, it was planned to solve the following particular problems:
consider the situation of distribution and use of licensed software in Russia and abroad;
conduct a study in the city of Tara to identify the extent of distribution and use of licensed software
develop and conduct activities on the research topic among school students.
theoretical analysis of information sources devoted to the research issues;
surveying and interviewing residents of the city of Tara;
statistical processing of the obtained data.
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF LICENSED SOFTWARE
Software is a set of programs that control the operation of a computer in order to perform operations and functions. The presence of installed software on the computer is a necessary condition for its functioning.
The acquisition of a software product is carried out by purchasing a license (right) to use it. Actions with a computer program without a license agreement or outside the scope of the license agreement are legally a violation of copyright and related rights in business practices accepted in the information technology market, and are called software piracy. In other words, software piracy is the theft of a software product by illegally copying genuine programs, distributing unauthorized versions of software, counterfeiting software, and distributing imitation programs.
The following types of computer piracy are distinguished:
Distributor piracy is the unauthorized production of media with programs (including simple copying) or the sale of computer programs without or in violation of a license agreement;
end user piracy – use of software, including simple downloading to a hard drive, without or in violation of a license agreement, including excessive (in quantities greater than that specified in the license agreement) use of software on local networks or via the Internet.
1. “Force” is when a manufacturer or distributor of pirated products is identified and brought to justice (criminal or administrative) by law enforcement agencies.
2. “Preventive”, the purpose of which is to explain the harm of piracy and responsibility for copyright infringement, to demonstrate the merits of licensed products. (Media, seminars for specialists, etc.)
Currently, the main laws regulating the use and protection of copyright in software are the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Legal Protection of Programs for Electronic Computers and Databases” and the Law of the Russian Federation “On Copyright and Related Rights”. Responsibility for the use of unlicensed software is divided into three main types: civil, administrative and criminal.
Civil liability arises when a justified claim of the copyright holder against a software user who violates copyright and related rights is confirmed. Depending on the recognition of the severity of the violation by the accused, by a court decision it is possible to compensate damages to the copyright holder in the amount of either twice the cost of the license or in the amount of 10 thousand to 5 million rubles.
Administrative liability occurs if the amount of damage to the copyright holder of the software does not exceed a large amount, i.e. amounted to no more than 50 thousand rubles. At the same time, the import, sale and rental or other illegal use of counterfeit copies of computer programs for the purpose of generating income is punishable by confiscation of counterfeit copies of software, equipment and materials used for their reproduction, as well as a fine in the amount of 15 to 400 times the minimum wage.
Criminal liability for violations of copyright or related rights when using computer programs is provided for in Article No. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, parts 2 and 3. Below are excerpts from these articles:
“2)…Illegal use of objects of copyright or related rights, acquisition, storage, transportation of counterfeit copies of works or phonograms for the purpose of sale, committed on a large scale, is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to two hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to eighteen months, or compulsory labor for a period of 180 to 240 hours, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years...”
“3) Acts provided for in part two of this article, if they are committed: - by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group; - on a particularly large scale; - by a person using his official position, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five years with a fine in the amount of up to five hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years...”
Over the past twenty years, organizations for the protection of copyright and related rights in the field of software have begun to function in our country. Thus, in 1997, the non-profit organization “Association for the Fight against Computer Piracy” (ABKP) was created, uniting companies operating on the Russian market in the development and sale of computer and information technologies. The “Association” has been granted authority by the European Entertainment Computer Software Publishers Association “ELSPA”, whose members are the world's largest publishers and computer software developers. Powers have been transferred to ABKP in order to ensure the protection of copyright and related rights of these companies in Russia and the CIS countries. The Association cooperates with law enforcement agencies of 30 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Over five years of work, with the assistance of the Association, more than two million counterfeit disks were seized and destroyed, hundreds of copyright violators were brought to justice, dozens of people were punished for crimes in the field of computer information.
In addition, the following are participating in the fight against the spread of unlicensed products: RAPO - Russian Anti-Piracy Association, operating in the video and DVD markets; IFPI - representative office of the International Federation of Phonogram Producers; legal representation of Microsoft and NP PPP - a non-profit partnership of software product suppliers. These are the main organizations that unite over 90% of Russian and Western copyright holders. The above companies have similar goals and objectives and cooperate in the fight against piracy. Of the law enforcement agencies, the most active is the Directorate "K" (formerly "R") of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and its structural divisions in the regions of Russia.
Microsoft Corporation annually monitors piracy in computer retail and presents comparative data on the situation in Russia and other countries. Thanks to the large-scale Mystery Shopper program initiated by the corporation, the software sales market is regularly monitored. The company sends letters of gratitude to those retailers who trade honestly. Those who are found in violations receive warnings. At the company’s initiative, Russian law enforcement agencies have already carried out almost a thousand inspections, and several hundred criminal cases have been initiated. A similar program is being implemented by 1C and Adobe.
Microsoft also distributes free special devices to Russian law enforcement officers to speed up the process of collecting evidence on computers and thereby facilitate investigations of cybercrimes. The device is a flash drive that connects to the USB port of a personal computer. The key fob's memory contains 150 special commands that allow you to decrypt passwords and quickly collect information about the owner of the PC. Microsoft began distributing devices to law enforcement officers last summer, but only recently announced this publicly. Currently, the key fobs are available to more than two thousand forensic investigators in 15 countries, including Poland, Germany, New Zealand and the United States. The device helps specialists quickly analyze data stored on a computer. In some cases, thanks to the use of a key fob, the need to remove and transport computers for examination is completely eliminated.
Every year, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), in partnership with IDC, a leading international market research company, publishes the results of an international study of software piracy. The BSA/IDC study aims to study the level of piracy in relation to any software that is used on personal computers. To confirm software piracy trends, IDC analysts work in more than 100 countries.
According to monitoring data, in Russia there is a significant decrease in the level of distribution of pirated software (Appendix 1). In 2005, 83% of the software installed on personal computers was unlicensed, in 2008 - 68%, and by the end of 2009, already 67% (Appendix 2). Below are the overall findings from the latest study, published in May 2010:
Among 111 countries, software piracy rates decreased in 54 countries. However, because the global PC market grew fastest in countries with high piracy rates, the global piracy rate rose 3 percentage points in 2009 to 43%.
Industry losses from computer piracy in 2009 amounted to $51.4 billion.
The US, Japan and Luxembourg remain the countries with the lowest piracy rates among the countries studied (20%, 21% and 22% respectively).
The highest levels of piracy are observed in Georgia, Zimbabwe and Moldova (all above 90%).
Factors that help reduce piracy include software legalization programs, government and industry educational campaigns, forced inspections by law enforcement agencies, and process improvements.
CHAPTER II
CONDUCTING A RESEARCH IN THE CITY OF TARE
The study on the topic “The problem of distribution and use of software in the city of Tara” was conducted from September 2009 to January 2011.
The experiment was divided into two stages. Let's look at each of them.
Stage I of the study
Time: September - December 2009.
Work at this stage was carried out in the following areas:
1. Questioning of city residents;
2. Interview with sellers of specialized stores;
3. Interview with an IT methodologist at the MBU "Information and Methodological Center" of the Tara municipal district.
Let's consider each of the areas of work separately.
1. Questioning of city residents
Goal: to identify the degree of distribution of licensed software and the level of knowledge of information about licensed and unlicensed versions of computer programs among the population of our city by conducting a survey (questionnaire questions are presented in Appendix 3).
As a result of the survey, 207 residents of the city of Tara were interviewed. This number of respondents was sufficient to obtain objective information about the extent of distribution of licensed software in the city of Tara. The questionnaire touches on a number of aspects that allow us, to a certain extent, to talk about the attitude of residents of the city of Tara to the use of licensed and pirated software on their computers. This is a preference when using these types of programs; knowledge of the differences between them and the consequences of using illegal software; the main reasons for the low level of distribution of licensed software. The survey was anonymous to increase the reliability of the data obtained.
Analysis of data from a sociological survey showed that every twenty-third respondent (4%) uses licensed software on their computer. 83% of respondents have unlicensed software installed, and 7% use these types of programs together on their computer. It should be noted that some of the respondents (6%) do not have information about the type of programs installed on their computers.
Diagram 1. Use of licensed and unlicensed software by city residents (in%)
(as of December 2009)
Based on the data presented in the diagram, you can see that pirated versions of programs are the most popular.
Analyzing and grouping the answers to the second question of the questionnaire (about the differences between licensed and unlicensed software), we can highlight the following:
1. The official products of the developer company are licensed and distributed through official representatives - distributors.
2. When purchasing a licensed version of the program, the buyer has the option of additional services (regular free updates, free installation by a company specialist, discounts when renewing a license, promotions). When purchasing an unlicensed version of the program, there are no such services.
3. A licensed product is tens of times more expensive than a pirated copy.
It should be noted that when answering this question in the questionnaire, 21% of respondents said that there were no significant differences.
The majority of respondents (73%) are aware of the consequences that may arise if they use pirated software.
The main reasons for the lack of licensed software on computers, according to residents of the city of Tara, are:
1. Absence of these products in specialized stores.
2. High cost of licensed versions of programs.
3. The license has a limited validity period - usually the license is sold for one year.
4. No significant differences.
2. Interview with sellers of specialized stores
Goal: to find out whether licensed software is available for sale in stores in the city of Tara and what is the share of its sales.
During the implementation of the second direction of the experiment, we conducted interviews with computer store salespeople. The following questions were proposed:
Do you have licensed software for sale?
Are there certificates and other necessary documentation for the sale of these products?
What percentage is the share of licensed programs out of the total number of programs sold?
3. Interview with an IT methodologist at the MBU "Information and Methodological Center" of the Tara municipal district
Goal: to identify the extent of distribution of licensed software in educational institutions in the city of Tara.
We interviewed Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dyshlevsky, an IT methodologist at the MBU "Information and Methodological Center" of the Tara municipal district, during which we received the necessary information about the use of licensed software in schools in our city.
Dmitry Alexandrovich, how can you characterize the situation regarding the use of licensed software in educational institutions in the Tara region?
At the moment, only licensed software is installed in all schools in the city and district. Achieving such results became possible thanks to the implementation of the priority national project “Education”, during which the project “Providing licensed support for a standard basic software package for educational institutions” is being implemented. In October 2007, an order was issued by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, according to which the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the Ministry of Information and Communications of Russia were instructed to: 1) purchase a 3-year license for commercial software for all schools; 2) ensure the development and implementation of free software in schools according to the list of programs included in the standard (basic) software package (SBPPO). Up to this point, schools have not had the opportunity to use licensed software, since most schools do not have the necessary finances to purchase legal software.
- How is this government order implemented in our region?
Each school in the Tara district received packages “FIRST AID 1.0” and “FIRST AID 2.0”. The first package included more than 70 commercial software products in the following categories: “Antiviruses and utilities”; "Operating system"; "Office package"; "Programming"; "School Management"; "Graphics and Design"; "Dictionaries"; “Scanning and text recognition”; "Internet: website creation." The use of this software package made it possible to provide Tara schools with licensed programs. This guarantees the quality and legality of using the software.
The FIRST AID 2.0 package includes all updates released by the manufacturers of the software included in the SBPPO kit, as well as a number of new versions of programs from the first package.
In addition to licensed software products, the kit includes: a set of new generation electronic educational resources (EER) in basic school subjects and a free software package (FSPO). Each school periodically submits reports on the use of these packages to the Information and Methodological Center. The license expires on January 1, 2011.
Stage II of the study
At this stage, work was carried out in the following areas:
1. Questioning of city residents.
2. Work on information education.
Let's consider each of the directions separately.
Survey of city residents
Purpose: to identify changes regarding the distribution and use of licensed software that occurred within a year from the date of the first stage of the study.
In the period from November 2010 to January 2011, a survey was conducted among residents of the city of Tara (questions are presented in Appendix 3). The first 4 questions of the questionnaire were taken from stage I, in order to identify changes in the research problem that occurred during the year. The remaining questions of the questionnaire allow us to give an objective assessment of the state of public awareness about free software as an alternative to commercial software and readiness to use it.
376 people took part in the survey. The majority of respondents are students from educational institutions in the city of Tara.
An analysis of the responses to the questionnaire showed that every third respondent (35%) uses licensed software on their computer. 22% of respondents use pirated copies of programs. Such a small percentage is explained by the use of licensed and non-licensed software among some respondents (20%). A quarter of residents could not answer this survey question affirmatively, so it is difficult for us to judge the software that is installed on their home computer.
Diagram 2. Use of licensed and non-licensed software by city residents (in%)
(as of January 2011)
When comparing the answers to the first question of the questionnaire at stages I and II, one can notice the positive dynamics of changes in the situation with the use of licensed software. At the same time, quite a number of residents of our city use pirated software or are not interested in the legality of using programs installed on home computers. In general, this situation reflects all-Russian statistics (see Appendix 2).
In order to determine the level of public awareness about the differences between licensed and pirated software, respondents were asked to list the main differences between both types of programs. The majority of respondents (60%) had difficulty answering this question. Others' responses can be grouped as follows:
1. A pirated copy has a number of functional limitations when used.
2. Licensed software is much more expensive than the pirated version.
3. The license confirms the legality of using this program on your computer.
By comparing the answers received to this question with the answers of the first stage, their identity can be established. The difference is that, compared to the first stage of the study, more people could name the differences between licensed and pirated programs. Although this indicator is far from optimal.
Among the main consequences of using unlicensed software, survey participants identified: criminal liability of the computer owner (41%); failure of individual programs or the computer as a whole, loss of information (27%). Every third respondent does not know about the consequences, showing a lack of basic knowledge of Russian laws in the field of copyright protection.
Comparing the data obtained with stage I, we can say that the degree of awareness of city residents regarding the consequences of using pirated software has not changed.
Among the reasons that do not allow respondents to use licensed software are the following:
1. High cost of licensed products (61%).
2. Temporary license limitation (15%).
3. No significant differences (7%).
4. Lack of licensed programs in stores (3%).
Some of the people we interviewed had not even thought about the possibility of switching to licensed software.
As in the first stage, the price factor is the most important when purchasing software. Many residents of our city do not have such a high income to purchase licensed programs. It can be assumed that price will remain the barrier that prevents users from switching to licensed software for a long time. When answering the fifth question of the questionnaire, 61% of respondents reported that they did not know about the possibility of switching to free licensed software. The majority of respondents (77%) have not even heard of the concept of free software or have a very vague understanding of it.
Given a choice between the software currently installed on the computers of survey participants and free software, many decided to leave the software package they were currently using (63%). About 20% could not answer the question because they do not know the advantages and disadvantages of free software (OS). Only 17% of respondents strongly declared their readiness to switch to open source software.
It should be noted that at the time of the survey, none of the respondents were using free software on their computers.
Information education work
Goal: to conduct educational activities on the research problem among students of school No. 5 and city residents.
In order to promote the use of licensed software, together with students of the Faculty of Mathematics of the Tara branch of the Omsk Pedagogical University, we developed and held school sports club meetings among high school students on the topic “Licensed software: pros and cons” (the scenario of one of the sports club meetings is presented in appendix 4). During the meeting, two opposing positions were put forward. School students became acquainted with statistical data on the problem of the use of unlicensed software in Russia and abroad, laws relating to copyright of intellectual property were reviewed, and emphasis was placed on the types of punishment for the use of illegal software. Students were given the opportunity to identify the main reasons for the massive use of unlicensed software among the population and propose solutions to this problem. Here are some of them:
in large cities it is necessary to hold promotions to exchange “pirated” products for licensed ones;
it is necessary to intensify the activities of special police units to suppress the activities of organizations involved in the illegal production and distribution of unlicensed software.
In order to increase the level of public awareness, in June 2010 we took part in the III correspondence scientific and practical conference “Computer science and information technology: school-university continuity”, organized by the Tara branch of Omsk Pedagogical University, where we presented the results of the first stage of the study (Appendix 5).
All materials used and obtained as a result of our research are presented for review on the website of the educational institution in the section of the NOU “Nadezhda” (link to the Internet resource: http://school5.tara.omskedu.ru/work.html).
CONCLUSION
In recent years, the situation with computer piracy in Russia has been changing for the better. Legislation has been stabilized, methods of combating have been developed, judicial precedents have been created for all types of copyright violations in software, and the legal awareness of users is growing. At the same time, it should be noted that such a situation requires a more serious and comprehensive approach to solving. It is not enough just to tighten measures to combat computer software piracy. It is also necessary to give the residents of our state the opportunity to purchase the necessary programs at affordable prices - currently, the purchase of these products remains a luxury for the majority of Russians.
Our research fully confirmed the hypothesis put forward about the low level of distribution and use of licensed software in the city of Tara.
After completing our research work, the following conclusions were obtained:
The problem of the distribution and use of pirated software is relevant not only for Russia, but also for most countries of the world.
In the city of Tara, there is an increasing trend in the number of residents using licensed software on their home computers.
In our city, there is a low level of public awareness regarding the use of licensed software.
LIST OF SOURCES AND LITERATURE USED
Microsoft Russia//Internet resource: http://www.microsoft.com/rus/news.
Civil Code of the Russian Federation // Internet resource: internet-law.ru/law/kodeks/gk4.htm.
Publishing house "Kommersant" // Internet resource: www.kommersant.ru/doc-rm.aspx?DocsID=1097166.
Materials of the seventh annual international study conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in partnership with IDC // http://www.bsa.org/country.aspx?sc_lang=ru-RU.
Paramonov Vladimir. Microsoft has created a device for collecting evidence on computers //http://security.compulenta.ru/356161.
Ushakov D.N. Large explanatory dictionary of modern Russian language. – M: “Alta-Print”, 2007. – VIII, 1239 pp.// http://ushdict.narod.ru.
Annex 1
Level of pirated software by country in Central and Eastern Europe by year (2005-2009)*
| A country | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 |
|
| Albania | 75 | 77 | 78 | 77 | 76 |
| Armenia | 90 | 92 | 93 | 95 | 95 |
| Azerbaijan | 88 | 90 | 92 | 94 | 94 |
| Belarus | 87 | - | - | - | - |
| Bosnia | 66 | 67 | 68 | 68 | 69 |
| Bulgaria | 67 | 68 | 68 | 69 | 71 |
| Croatia | 54 | 54 | 54 | 55 | |
| Czech | 37 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 40 |
| Estonia | 50 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 54 |
| Great Britain | 67 | 68 | 68 | 69 | 70 |
| Georgia | 95 | 95 | - | - | - |
| Hungary | 41 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Kazakhstan | 78 | 78 | 79 | 81 | 85 |
| Latvia | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 57 |
| 54 | 54 | 56 | 57 | 57 |
|
| Moldova | 91 | 90 | 92 | 94 | 96 |
| Montenegro | 81 | 83 | 83 | 82 | 83 |
| Poland | 54 | 56 | 56 | 57 | 58 |
| Romania | 65 | 66 | 68 | 69 | 72 |
| Russia | 67 | 68 | 73 | 80 | 83 |
| Serbia | 74 | 74 | 76 | 78 | 80 |
| Slovakia | 43 | 43 | 45 | 47 |
|
| Slovenia | 46 | 47 | 48 | 48 | 50 |
| Ukraine | 85 | 84 | 83 | 84 | 85 |
| Rest of C.E. | 88 | 88 | 88 | 90 | 92 |
| 64 | 66 | 66 | 68 | 69 |
Appendix 2
Level of distribution of illegal computer software products for 2009 *
| A country | Piracy level | A country | Piracy level |
| Zimbabwe | 92% | USA | 20% |
| Georgia | 95% | Slovakia | |
| Nicaragua | 79% | Spain | 42% |
| Kenya | 79% | South Korea | 41% |
| China | 79% | Hungary | 41% |
| Bolivia | 80% | Portugal | 40% |
| Zambia | 82% | Taiwan | 38% |
| Paraguay | 82% | Czech Republic | 37% |
| Nigeria | 83% | South Africa | 35% |
| Cameroon | 83% | Singapore | 35% |
| Algeria | 84% | Ireland | 35% |
| Pakistan | 84% | Israel | 33% |
| Iraq | 85% | Norway | 29% |
|
Ukraine | 85% | Canada | 29% |
| Vietnam | 85% | Germany | 28% |
| Indonesia | 86% | Sweden | 25% |
| Vinezuela | 87% | Finland | 25% |
| Azeidbarzhan | 88% | Belgium | 25% |
| Sri Lanka | 89% | Austria | 25% |
| Armenia | 90% | Australia | 25% |
| Moldova | 91% | New Zealand | 22% |
| Bangladesh | 91% | Luxembourg | 21% |
| Belarus | 87% | Japan | 21% |
*according to the seventh annual international study conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in partnership with IDC.
Appendix 3
(Stage I of the study)
licensed;
unlicensed;
Questions for surveying residents of the city of Tara
(Stage II of the study)
What software do you use on your computer:
licensed;
unlicensed;
sharing of licensed and pirated software;
I have no information about what software is installed on the computer.
Do you know the differences between licensed and pirated software? List the main ones.
What do you know about the consequences of using pirated software on a computer: civil, administrative and criminal liability?
For what reasons do people not want to use licensed software?
Did you know that you can use licensed software for free?
What do you know about free software (FSS)?
If you were choosing between the software that is installed on your computer and open source software, which would you choose, why?
Appendix 4
Development of a debate club meeting on the topic
“Licensed and unlicensed software: pros and cons”
2 presenters
1: Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today we are going to talk and argue on the topic of “licensed and unlicensed software”.
2: Everyone knows that stealing something that belongs to another person is bad because it will cause concrete harm to the rightful owner of the thing. And one of the main commandments that normal parents try to convey to their children all over the world is: “you cannot take someone else’s property without asking.” A person who has not properly grasped this simple truth has no right to be called decent.
1: However, all this concerns only material values - everything that can be touched with your hands. But man differs from animals in that, in addition to material values, intellectual values are also of a certain interest to him. Borrowing intangible assets is not directly associated with theft. In addition, throughout life, any person borrows and uses the knowledge and experience gained by others.
2: And not so long ago (judging by the history of mankind) the first computer was created. Only a few decades have passed, but it is no longer possible to imagine the modern world without it. The protection of intellectual property rights has grown from something distant into a pressing problem faced by millions, if not hundreds of millions of users. This happened because without software (that same intellectual property), the coolest computer is just a pile of hardware.
1: So, the first point of our discussion: do YOU consider the use of unlicensed (pirated) software to be a crime? Who wants to express their opinion on this issue? (conversation with those who want to talk about this topic)
2: Well then. Whether you like it or not, for Russian legislation the distribution and use of unlicensed software is a crime.
1: Let's look at the numbers. What do we see? In Russia, the share of pirated products in 2009 exceeds 60 percent. According to this indicator, we are on the same level as many third world countries. At the same time, in Europe this figure, as a rule, does not exceed 50%. And in countries such as Japan, Germany and the USA it is less than 30. How can you explain such statistics? (talk)
2: Now let's take a look at Russian statistics by city and region. 1: On the current slide are the worst cities in quotes. So in Makhachkala, 77% of programs out of their total number do not have a license.
2: Now let's turn to the map of Russia. The transition from green to red means an increase in the share of counterfeit products. We see that according to this indicator, the Omsk region is a typical average. Everything is not as neglected as, for example, in Kalmykia or the Magadan region, but there is someone to follow. These are the Kurgan region, the Republic of Tatarstan, Voronezh, Krasnodar.
1: Does anyone present wish to comment on this picture?
(talk)
2: Okay. What do you think are the reasons for such a high average crime rate in the distribution of unlicensed software?
(talk)
2: The position of the audience is clear to me. Of course, the imperfection of the regulatory framework for combating piracy is the main reason for the prosperity in this area. But there is another: insufficient awareness of the population about the types of computer piracy, about the penalties for offenses in this area and about existing methods of combating piracy.
1: The majority of the population in our country understands piracy as the production and distribution of unlicensed software and do not even realize that piracy has quite a few forms. Pirates are not only those who produce unlicensed software, but also those who use it, replicate it, post it on the Internet, transmit it by email, etc.
2: Now ask yourself whether you recorded a disc or sent unlicensed software to someone on a flash drive. If yes, then you are definitely a criminal!
1: Does anyone here know the specific punishments in this environment?
(talk)
Administrative (Article 7.12, 14.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation);
Criminal (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
Civil law (Article 12, 1252, 1301 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
(talk).
2: I will give more examples. On September 29, 2010, the Trusovsky District Court of Astrakhan rendered a verdict against Ivan Martyanov and sentenced him to suspended imprisonment for a period of 2 years 6 months. In addition, compensation was recovered from Martyanov in favor of the companies Microsoft (RUB 274,754), Autodesk (RUB 104,394), Corel (RUB 26,380), and Adobe (RUB 187,507). Martyanov’s criminal activity was recorded during a test purchase by employees of the Department of Economic Crimes No. 3 of the Internal Affairs Directorate for Astrakhan on May 26, 2010. The computer pirate installed a number of software products on the customer’s PC. The total amount of the act was 593,037 rubles.
2: What do you think: did the court act fairly towards the convicted?
(talk)
2: However, as already mentioned, piracy is alive and well in some places. Can anyone from the audience explain why pirated software is widespread?
(conversation. Reasons given: price, availability, etc.)
1: Let's turn to the most important criterion in quotes for choosing unlicensed software. Price. 2: If you look at the price tags in stores selling computer software, the cost of a license for the Windows Seven operating system and the Microsoft Office package does not exceed 4 thousand rubles.
1: Well, of course, not every one of us will be able to pay such a price for programs. And for such lovers of free things, there is a type of software called free or open source. How many of you have heard of this or use it on your computer? (talk)
2: It's time to sum up our meeting today. I would like to believe that we had a good time today. We all need to educate ourselves in the legal aspects of working with a computer: know our rights and responsibilities, and be prepared to take responsibility for our actions.
1: Based on the results of the debate club, I hope everyone will draw conclusions for themselves. Thank you all for your participation. Goodbye.
Appendix 5
Publication in the collection of the III correspondence scientific and practical conference “Computer Science and Information Technologies: School-University Continuity”
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