This article reports the results of a mobile phone use validation survey in which we compared self-reported mobile phone use to network provider data, and examined the observed discrepancies between both data sources in a convenience sample of 466 Flemish mobile phone users (18–65 years). The results showed significant discrepancies between self-reported and behavioral mobile phone use, particularly for the number and duration of mobile calls. Light users tended to overestimate, while heavy users tended to underestimate their mobile phone use. Females were more likely to underestimate their weekly number of calls. Younger adults were more accurate in reporting their weekly number of calls, but less accurate in reporting their weekly number of text messages. The discussion devotes particular attention to potential question wording effects that are likely to have influenced the results.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.