Thank you for participating in the Sharability Survey. We are trying to better understand peoples' attitudes towards the sharing of household goods in their local social networks. The goal is to determine how far the proverbial "cup of sugar" might be extended via information technology. To learn more about your rights as a participant in this research project, click here.
5. Describe your race/ethnicity. (You may select more than one of the following categories)
7. Are you married or living with someone with whom you jointly own a number of items?
10. Do you own the home in which you currently live?
12. Do you expect to be living in this neighborhood next year?
18. On average, how much time daily do you spend using online social networks? (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc.)
The next section asks that you provide your opinion concerning a series of statements about borrowing and lending material goods. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers - just make the choice that describes YOU best.
19. Lending things to others unnecessarily complicates relationships.
20. I like the idea of owning something more than just borrowing it, even if I only want to use it once.
21. Sharing things with others helps us reduce our environmental impact.
22. Letting others know what things I own is dangerous.
23. If I lend my things to people, others will be more likely to lend me their things later on.
24. I enjoy sharing what I have with others.
25. I am uncomfortable asking to borrow things from others because it makes me feel like a burden.
26. Borrowing things from others helps to reduce the accumulation of more stuff in my home.
27. I don't like to lend things, even to good friends.
28. Borrowing an item is more economical than buying your own if you plan to use it only rarely.
29. I worry that I will never again see the things I lend to others.
30. Lending out things that I rarely use is a good way to lessen levels of resource consumption.
31. Borrowing helps people evaluate an item before buying one of their own.
32. I feel uncomfortable borrowing things from others because I may later feel pressured to lend them my things in return.
33. I don't think other people will take good care of things that I lend to them.
34. People who really need to use an item should probably buy their own.
35. Lending things to other people is a good way to help them save money.
36. I think borrowing specialty items from others is a good way to save my money.
37. I trust people to return items they've borrowed when they say they will.
38. Borrowing things from others reduces the amount of stuff that eventually becomes polluting waste.
39. I feel uncomfortable asking to borrow things from others.
40. Lending things to people helps to strengthen my relationship with them.
41. Lending things to others makes me feel generous.
42. Buying things is just too convenient to warrant trying to borrow them from someone.
43. I would like to be able to share more of my things with people who really need to use them.
44. I feel comfortable asking to borrow things from people I don't know well.
45. If there was a website on which you could list things that you own and might be willing to share with others, how comfortable do you think you would be with giving these different groups of people access to this online list?
The following section includes a number of questions that ask about specific things that you and people you know own. This may seem suspicious, but we promise it will never be used to plan a robbery. Information of this kind has really never been collected before, so please answer seriously. Also though, try not to get stuck on one question for too long.
46. How often have you borrowed things from people outside your household in the last year?
(note: you will be asked questions about some of these items, so be ready to recall specific details)
48. How important were the following factors in deciding to borrow this item rather than buying a new one?
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Importance |
| Cost/Difficulty of Buying Your Own |
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| Only Infrequently Needing It |
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| Being Able to Get It Quickly |
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| Your Relationship to the Lender |
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| Wanted to Try Before Buying |
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51. How important were the following factors in deciding to borrow this item rather than buying a new one?
| |
Importance |
| Cost/Difficulty of Buying Your Own |
|
| Only Infrequently Needing It |
|
| Being Able to Get It Quickly |
|
| Your Relationship to the Lender |
|
| Wanted to Try Before Buying |
|
54. How important were the following factors in deciding to borrow this item rather than buying a new one?
| |
Importance |
| Wanted to Try Before Buying |
|
| Your Relationship to the Lender |
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| Only Infrequently Needing It |
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| The Cost of Buying Your Own |
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| Being Able to Get It Quickly |
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57. How often have you lent things to people outside your household in the last year?
59. How important were the following factors in deciding whether or not to lend this item?
| |
Importance |
| The Fragility/Danger of the Item |
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| Not Likely Needing It While Lent |
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| Your Relationship to the Borrower |
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| The Cost/Difficulty of Replacing It |
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| Desire to Share a Fun/Useful Item |
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62. How important were the following factors in deciding whether or not to lend this item?
| |
Importance |
| The Fragility/Danger of the Item |
|
| The Cost/Difficulty of Replacing It |
|
| Your Relationship to the Borrower |
|
| Not Likely Needing It While Lent |
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| Desire to Share a Fun/Useful Item |
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65. How important were the following factors in deciding whether or not to lend this item?
| |
Importance |
| Not Likely Needing It While Lent |
|
| Desire to Share a Fun/Useful Item |
|
| Your Relationship to the Borrower |
|
| The Fragility/Danger of the Item |
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| The Cost/Difficulty of Replacing It |
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68. Using categories below, try to list some items that you and people you know IN THE LOCAL AREA own and answer the related hypothetical questions about lending/borrowing them.
69. What is the boundary within which you would consider people to be your neighbors?
70. How safe do you feel walking alone in your neighborhood after dark?
71. Have you introduced any neighbors who did not previously know each other?
72. Have you ever attended any neighborhood meetings or events?
73. Would you find it strange if a neighbor whose name you didn't know asked to borrow an item they had seen you using outside your home?
74. In general, how friendly have you found the people living in your neighborhood to be?
75. Do you tend to know the neighbors who live closer to you better than those who live further away?
76. What proportion of the neighbors you know are you friends with on online social networks?
77. Out of all the coworkers you know, what proportion are you friends with on online social networks?
78. Do you regularly participate in any organizations or groups within your local area? (e.g. a church, school, club, or society)
82. How many members do you think are active locally in the organization in which you are most involved?
84. Out of all the people you know in the organization, what proportion are you friends with on online social networks?
85. Are you currently employed at a job in which you have coworkers?
88. About how many other employees do you interact with on a weekly basis?
After clicking the "Continue" button below, you will asked to name people you know in the local area, describe your relationship, and rate how well they know other people in your network. This will make it possible to produce a visualization of your local social network like the one you see below, which will be emailed to you ASAP. You must name at least 10 people you know, but you could name up to 100. Please keep in mind that the more individuals you name, the more time it will take to complete this interview. If you bookmark the next page, you can come back and finish later by entering your name again.
89. Please express how well the following statements describe your attitudes towards borrowing and lending things.