Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
🔗 Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=ls
This study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project (luka.hrgarek@um.si)!
Cheers!
People who influence my behavior think that I should use cloud services.
This question is going to get bad data. No one likes to think of themselves as being influenced. A more effective phrasing would be “…people I trust…”
Thanks for the comment — that’s a valid observation, and I understand how the wording might feel a bit awkward.
Just to clarify: the statement comes from a standardized construct called Subjective Norms, and follows the phrasing from the paper “A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model” by Venkatesh & Davis (2000).
For all independent variables in the survey, we relied on validated scales and established practices from prior scientific research, to ensure consistency and reliability. That said, I really appreciate your feedback. :)
Have you thought about contacting Louis Rossmann? He created an extensive video guide on how to self host using FOSS. Perhaps he’d be willing to highlight your survey to his over 2 million subscribers.
That’s a good idea, and maybe even Henry from Techlore.
I use self-hosted services in the following categories as much as possible…
That question could really use a “not applicable” option. I don’t operate any home automation solutions, so any answer from me would be invalid, and neutral answers because the item is not relevant will appear the same as neutral answers because I use both self-hosted and externally hosted solutions (e.g. Mullvad for privacy and Tailscale to get around CGNAT).
Thanks for the comment: that’s a really good point to raise.
Just to clarify: the statement “I use self-hosted services in the following categories as much as possible” is meant to reflect how fully you make use of self-hosted solutions in each area. A response like “Strongly agree” would indicate that you actively use and take full advantage of self-hosting in that category.
If you don’t use solutions in a particular category at all — whether that’s because you don’t need them, aren’t interested, or use only external services — then it’s completely appropriate to select a disagreeing option (e.g. “Disagree” or “Strongly disagree”). In this context, lower agreement simply indicates low or no use, regardless of the reason.
From a methodological standpoint, the data will be analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). This approach requires a complete set of responses across the measured constructs. If we included a “not applicable” option, it would create missing values in the dataset and potentially lead to excluding the entire response for that part of the analysis — which would significantly reduce the usable sample size.
That said, I really appreciate your feedback! :)
Be prepared for some respondents to choose the middle option as a proxy for “not applicable,” because that’s what I did.
Done. Nobody else wants to know why I have 3 RasPi’s running stuff around the house, so I get to tell you in the survey, lol.
This survey doesn’t distinguish between levels of cloud service provider, so I was a little confused.
Virtual private servers, cloud virtual servers (like AWS), cloud-based software where you provide code or a program and the cloud system runs it on a server of its choosing, and cloud-based systems where someone else provides the software (like Google Docs).
Thank you for your feedback and for completing the survey. The first part of the survey primarily focuses on Software as a Service (SaaS). We appreciate your input and will consider ways to clarify this in future surveys.
Done, though some of the questions were redundant or weirdly phrased.
Did my part! Good luck!
Thanks a lot, really appreciate it! :)
Good Luck Luka!
I feel like I’m a minority in this group in that I really don’t like self hosting but I do it anyways because it gives me the things I want from a content/privacy/control/ownership perspective.
Thanks so much – really appreciate it! :)
PhDs are hard, don’t get discouraged if you get told to rewrite tons of things. My Dad had to rewrite many parts to his dissertation, the arbitrary nature of the rewrites was the hardest part to deal with for him. Hopefully you have better advisors!
I added my answers. Good luck on your thesis!
Thanks a lot for your input and kind wishes, really appreciate it!
- It’s educational for those who have a lust for learning.
- It’s fun.
- It’s far more private than using commercial cloud services.
Good luck on the thesis and I hope my data points can assist your research! I’m sure the community would love to see your finished thesis when it is done
Done, good luck!
Thank you so much – I really appreciate it!
Page 2 seems to have a lot of redundant question.
I intend to continue using self-hosting services in the future if possible.
I will use self-hosting services regularly in the future if possible.
I will frequently use self-hosting services in the future if possibleI was kind of surprised by my answers when I stopped to reflect. I realized I:
- don’t really like self-hosting
- know a lot about new tech, but am not very excited about it
- don’t use a lot of the popular services
Anyway, I hope the results are useful! I don’t know if you’ve done it already, but it would be interesting to compare results from different sources, like Lemmy vs Reddit or wherever you posted it.
I did it for ya…good luck with your phd
Thank you so much, really appreciate it! :)
