How Much Time Do You Spend Online? Understanding and Improving the Accuracy of Self-Reported Measures of Internet Use

Abstract

How much time do you spend online? Understanding and improving the accuracy of self-reported measures of internet use Araujo, T.B.; Wonneberger, A.; Neijens, P.C.; de Vreese, C.H. : 10.1080/19312458.2017.1317337 Link to publication Published in: Communication Methods and Measures DOI Citation for published version (APA):Araujo, T., Wonneberger, A., Neijens, P., & de Vreese, C. (2017). How much time do you spend online? Understanding and improving the accuracy of self-reported measures of internet use. Communication Methods and Measures, 11(3), 173-190. DOI: 10.1080173-190. DOI: 10. /19312458.2017 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Given the importance of survey measures of online media use for communication research, it is crucial to assess and improve their quality, in particular because the increasingly fragmented and ubiquitous usage of internet complicates the accuracy of self-reported measures. This study contributes to the discussion regarding the accuracy of self-reported internet use by presenting relevant factors potentially affecting biases of self-reports and testing survey design strategies to improve accuracy. Combining automatic tracking data and survey data from the same participants (N = 690) confirmed low levels of accuracy and tendencies of over-reporting. The analysis revealed biases due to a range of factors associated with the intensity of (actual) internet usage, propensity to multitask, day of reference, and the usage of mobile devices. An anchoring technique could not be proved to reduce inaccuracies of reporting behavior. Several recommendations for research practice follow from these findings.

Time for the Human Screenome Project

“…Another problem is that people are unlikely to recollect exactly when they did what 4,5 . Recent studies that compared survey responses with computer logs of behaviour indicate that people both under-and over-report media exposure -often by as much as several hours per day [6][7][8] . In today's complex media environment, survey questions about the past month or even the past day might be almost useless.…”

Effects of Reallocating Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviors, and Sleep on Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Examination of Canadian Adolescents in the COMPASS Study

“…All behaviors were self-reported which can result in biased estimates. 50,51 Social media use was not directly assessed. Given the ubiquity of social media use among adolescents, screen time is likely underestimated.…”

Exploring the Meaning Problem of Big and Small Data Through Digital Method Triangulation

“…Due to the challenges of traffic measurement of user behaviour, mixed methods and triangulation have been recommended, but they are not yet common (see Findhal et al, 2014;Giglietto et al, 2012;Lagerstedt et al, 2012). Some studies have combined observed online data with other methods (e.g., Araujo et al, 2017;Scharkow, 2016), but few have used triangulation. Findahl and colleagues (2014) and Lagerstedt and colleagues (2012) studied internet audience behaviour through triangulation of traffic data measurements and surveys and diaries, adopting a meta-perspective.…”

“…The traffic measurements showed that the virtual methods did not give an incorrect but an incomplete picture of users' behaviour online (see also Araujo et al, 2017;Scharkow, 2016); surveys only produce answers for the questions asked, whereas data measurements can provide more extensive information, especially for activities that change over time. The diary method provides a greater ability to capture change, but only the ones that the users find to be the most important, whereas data measurements capture all activities (Findahl et al, 2014).…”