Awareness of Mobile Device Security: A Survey of User's Attitudes

2. Survey Methodology And Demographics

The survey examined levels of user awareness and attitudes towards mobile phone security together with current practices and perceptions towards future security features. A quantitative research methodology was devised in order to maximise the respondent rate. Whilst this has the disadvantage of restricting the wealth of information to be gathered from respondents, it does tend to result in higher levels of participation. Previous qualitative-based research in this area has resulted in smaller populations (n=60) and required a significant budget to encourage participation (Chin et al., 2012). With a sample population of 301 participants, the study was conducted over a three-month period (ending in June 2011), recruiting respondents via email and webpage hyperlinks. Access to the survey was purposefully left open with a single stipulation that the respondents had to have used a mobile handset.