The rising penetration of smartphones now gives researchers the chance to collect data from smartphone users – such as geolocation, online behavior and browser history, app usage – through passive mobile data collection via apps. Compared to surveys that rely on self-reported data, passive data collection has the potential to provide richer data (because it is almost constantly) collected), to decrease respondent burden (because fewer survey questions need to be asked), and to reduce measurement error (because of less forgetting and social desirability). However, to collect passive data from smartphones, participants need to agree to download a research app that tracks their behavior and location over a longer period of time. This leads to concerns about nonresponse and consent as well as privacy concerns. In a two-wave study among 2,600 German smartphone users, we assessed the circumstances under which smartphone users are willing to participate in passive mobile data collection. In wave 1, we screened for smartphone ownership and asked questions about topics such as smartphone and app use, attitudes toward survey organizations and passive mobile data collection, and general privacy concerns. A month later, in wave 2 we showed respondents a set of eight vignettes that described hypothetical studies where data were automatically collected by a research app on a participant’s smartphone. The vignettes varied the levels of several dimensions of the hypothetical study, and respondents were asked to rate their willingness to participate in such a study. We find that less than 35% of respondents reported that they were willing to download a research app to their smartphone. Willingness to participate was influenced both by study characteristics (sponsored, length of data collection period, incentives, option to switch off the app) as well as respondent characteristics. We will discuss the implications of the findings of this research as well as further applications of passive mobile data collection currently in progress.
Presented by:
Florian Keusch, University of Mannheim
Date & time:
November 6, 2017 4:00 pm - November 6, 2017 5:30 pm
Venue:
2N2.4.16
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