Acceptance of Smartphone Technologies for Social Science Data Collection

The rising spread of smartphones among the general population offers empirical social research new opportunities for collecting data about attitudes and behaviours. Smartphones can be used to administer surveys and, at the same time, to collect detailed behavioural data through the built-in sensors. However, a major challenge of smartphone-based data collection is the low willingness of the population to participate. Selective participation by certain subgroups of the population can lead to biased results.

This project will develop and test a theoretical framework of the social acceptance of smartphones as a data collection tool in empirical social research with the aim to improve the representativeness of smartphone-based studies. The main questions are what social psychological factors explain the willingness to participate and what measures can be used to increase this willingness. The theoretical framework will be developed on the basis of a systematic review of technology acceptance theories and qualitative in-depth interviews with smartphone users. The results will subsequently be tested in the context of a smartphone data collection.