• Welcome to the Off-Topic/Schweb's Lounge

    In addition to the Mac-Forums Community Guidelines, there are a few things you should pay attention to while in The Lounge.

    Lounge Rules
    • If your post belongs in a different forum, please post it there.
    • While this area is for off-topic conversations, that doesn't mean that every conversation will be permitted. The moderators will, at their sole discretion, close or delete any threads which do not serve a beneficial purpose to the community.

    Understand that while The Lounge is here as a place to relax and discuss random topics, that doesn't mean we will allow any topic. Topics which are inflammatory, hurtful, or otherwise clash with our Mac-Forums Community Guidelines will be removed.

The Morality of Downloading...

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hi everyone.

I'm writing a (substantial) essay on the ethics of file-sharing, and I hate to advertise like this but I really do need some help.

I would like to ask that you please visit the link below and take the three polls on downloading/file-sharing. Your answers will assist me in my writing of a substantial essay on the ethics of sharing files and the morality of regulating such sharing. The polls should only take about a minute, and I would very much appreciate any and all responses.

http://normativemorals.blogspot.com/

Thank you.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
645
Reaction score
22
Points
18
Location
Twin Cities (Suburbs) Minnesota
Your Mac's Specs
 15" 2.4 MBP  iPod Classic 80 GB, Silver
No, all software should be free and there are other ways for musicians/programmers to earn a living.

Just like to say this answer is dumb when it comes to "Is downloading software without paying morally wrong". It is their job to write software, most of them went to some schooling for it. What else can they do to make money? Work at McDonalds while they aren't programming? It is their incentive to make these programs, otherwise you wouldn't even have them available. Nothing is free, most people just don't do things because they feel it will benefit society, but rather do things to benefit themselves. If that wasn't the case, the world would be perfect and everyone would have a job, and just trade services with eachother and everyone would be happy! :) /endrant
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
1,224
Reaction score
62
Points
48
Location
Twin Cities, MN
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook 2.0ghz coeduo 1GB RAM 80 GB HD SuperDrive
Just saying, as a sociology major I know a bit about survey construction...

If you are using this research for anything academic, these surveys are not very good. For two reasons at least:

1) The answers are first off not Mutually Exclusive/Exhaustive.

2) Anybody can just refresh and take the survey again, and again, and again (etc.) which could trash your results.
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
1,395
Reaction score
30
Points
48
Location
Central Florida
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro Unibody
Just like to say this answer is dumb when it comes to "Is downloading software without paying morally wrong". It is their job to write software, most of them went to some schooling for it. What else can they do to make money? Work at McDonalds while they aren't programming? It is their incentive to make these programs, otherwise you wouldn't even have them available. Nothing is free, most people just don't do things because they feel it will benefit society, but rather do things to benefit themselves. If that wasn't the case, the world would be perfect and everyone would have a job, and just trade services with eachother and everyone would be happy! :) /endrant

While for the most part I agree with what you are saying, I totally disagree with this statement. Mostly because you are speaking in an absolute that has no room for any of the Free Software movement (Linux, BSD, FSF, any Opensource project). This is all based on the assumption that by incentive you mean money, which is what I can gather from your statement.

Secondly, I agree with skye, that survey construction is horrible. For this type of "study" I would probably use a Likert scale, with general statements about filesharing attitudes. Of course, you would probably need SPSS to analyze the results correctly. :)
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
645
Reaction score
22
Points
18
Location
Twin Cities (Suburbs) Minnesota
Your Mac's Specs
 15" 2.4 MBP  iPod Classic 80 GB, Silver
While for the most part I agree with what you are saying, I totally disagree with this statement. Mostly because you are speaking in an absolute that has no room for any of the Free Software movement (Linux, BSD, FSF, any Opensource project). This is all based on the assumption that by incentive you mean money, which is what I can gather from your statement.

Secondly, I agree with skye, that survey construction is horrible. For this type of "study" I would probably use a Likert scale, with general statements about filesharing attitudes. Of course, you would probably need SPSS to analyze the results correctly. :)

Ya I know what you mean. I guess what I meant would be software with support and great functionality (Not saying Linux isn't great functionality, there are a few free softwares that are better than pay software, but you know what I mean) generally costs money to research and develop, and pay the developers who take the time to make it. I'm sure Mac OS X wouldn't exist if the developers didn't get paid. Nor would windows. iWorks wouldn't be around, or Microsoft Office. Aperature, etc. Photoshop. A bunch of nice software that there are free alternatives, but yet just don't work completely the same in most cases in the aspect of reliability and compatibility.
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
1,395
Reaction score
30
Points
48
Location
Central Florida
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro Unibody
Ya I know what you mean. I guess what I meant would be software with support and great functionality (Not saying Linux isn't great functionality, there are a few free softwares that are better than pay software, but you know what I mean) generally costs money to research and develop, and pay the developers who take the time to make it. I'm sure Mac OS X wouldn't exist if the developers didn't get paid. Nor would windows. iWorks wouldn't be around, or Microsoft Office. Aperature, etc. Photoshop. A bunch of nice software that there are free alternatives, but yet just don't work completely the same in most cases in the aspect of reliability and compatibility.

I figured that is what you meant, but just got caught up in the rant. :)
 
OP
A
Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
jesus...survey construction is not my area of expertise...I'm purely philosophy and lit. Instead of critiquing my (well-phrased if limited) questions, why not assist me in making a better poll? Heck, if you make a good one, I'll give you credit for it, and your name will have a nice little footnote.

Honestly though, how would one make a better poll (is there a likert-poll website I can use?)
 
OP
A
Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
and furthermore, the answer quoted above is not "dumb"...anyone familiar with basic proprietary vs. freeware arguments would recognize it. It's not my idea, but I wish it were because it is sharp. Also, I agree with it...
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
1,224
Reaction score
62
Points
48
Location
Twin Cities, MN
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook 2.0ghz coeduo 1GB RAM 80 GB HD SuperDrive
jesus...survey construction is not my area of expertise...I'm purely philosophy and lit. Instead of critiquing my (well-phrased if limited) questions, why not assist me in making a better poll? Heck, if you make a good one, I'll give you credit for it, and your name will have a nice little footnote.

Honestly though, how would one make a better poll (is there a likert-poll website I can use?)

I really shouldn't help you at all after a post like this, it does not take much effort to research basic survey construction. Perhaps instead of whining about my criticism(which is crucial in the academic realm) you could take the criticism and head over to Google and learn a couple things about creating a survey.

But being a sociologist and such I feel compelled;

One approach would be to put a 1-10 scale with a question such as:

On a scale of 1-10 what would be your willingness to download software/music if you could not afford it?

Or:

Have responses such as:

Strongly Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Strongly Disagree
NA

Also, you need to guarantee anonymity of the people who are filling the survey out. Essentially, all the respondents should be able to be completely covered by each answer. And only one answer should be applicable towards each respondent. Hence Mutually Exclusive/Exhaustive. Also you need to take into consideration other fallacies/biases, such as, most of the respondents you are going to have you will be finding on a forum (so far) and these people are people who are obviously proficient with computers and would thus be more likely to know how to/be willing to download illegally.

This is some general things. Most of this is if you plan on using your data in an academic setting, there really is a whole thing of ethics and such that should be followed.
 
OP
A
Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I really shouldn't help you at all after a post like this, it does not take much effort to research basic survey construction. Perhaps instead of whining about my criticism(which is crucial in the academic realm) you could take the criticism and head over to Google and learn a couple things about creating a survey.

But being a sociologist and such I feel compelled;

You're too kind... Seriously though, I get defensive over this because I've been up for almost twenty-four hours and I'm frustrated after so many revisions of a casual poll. This has no bearing on my paper, and I'm quite aware of criticism in academia (have been for quite some time...it's kind of my major).


But, I went back and updated my site to fit this Likert-scale (which I immediately googled, thank you). Let me know if the new link is any better, and if you can offer any more constructive criticism, feel free.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top