Good idea--even if a little late--
"ICANN has not previously conducted a survey of Internet users to gauge their trust and perceived sense of choice in the DNS. As this is a new activity, ICANN is open to creative proposals in order to capture a representative cross-section of user opinions. The goal of the consumer survey is to gauge Internet users’ perceived sense of choice and trust in the DNS prior to new gTLDs saturating the domain name marketplace. Ultimately, that baseline data will be used as a comparison point with responses to be taken at least one year after new gTLDs have been in operation." (source infra)
Request for Proposal for Global Consumer Survey - ICANN: "... The selected provider(s) will design and execute an initial survey to create a meaningful baseline of data on consumer attitudes and will perform a follow-on survey one year later, to generate a set of comparison data.... By making the data available for community members and all interested parties to review and download, the community can more meaningfully participate in discussions of the survey’s findings, as well as provide well-informed opinions to guide future decisions on gTLDs. In addition, the survey’s data will have broader implications for understanding the global Internet community. While the data will inform the level of trust and perceived sense of choice in the DNS, it will also provide valuable insight into how users view and employ the DNS, what websites they trust, and what software and applications they use to reliably navigate the Internet...." (read more at the link above)
Of course, SCORE and Verisign already conducted a study:
How Will New gTLDs Impact Small Business? | SCORE: "... Four out of five SMB website owners prefer a .com web address over a new gTLD web address - 81% of SMB website owners believe new gTLDs will be confusing to their customers - 94% of Internet users feel safe visiting a .com website VS. 33% of Internet users feel safe visiting a new gTLD website... "
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