Approximately 40% of mobile phone use studies published in scholarly communication journals base their findings on self-report data about how frequently respondents use their mobile phones. Using a subset of a larger representative sample we examine the validity of this type of self-report data by comparing it to server log data. The self-report data correlate only moderately with the server log data, indicating low criterion validity. The categorical self-report measure asking respondents to estimate “how often” they use their mobile phones fared better than the continuous self-report measure asking them to estimate their mobile phone activity “yesterday.” A multivariate exploratory analysis further suggests that it may be difficult to identify under- and overreporting using demographic variables alone.
%0 Journal Article
%1 JCC4:JCC412021
%A Boase, Jeffrey
%A Ling, Rich
%D 2013
%I Blackwell Publishing Ltd
%J Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
%K data measurement phones self-report
%N 4
%P 508--519
%R 10.1111/jcc4.12021
%T Measuring Mobile Phone Use: Self-Report Versus Log Data
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12021
%V 18
%X Approximately 40% of mobile phone use studies published in scholarly communication journals base their findings on self-report data about how frequently respondents use their mobile phones. Using a subset of a larger representative sample we examine the validity of this type of self-report data by comparing it to server log data. The self-report data correlate only moderately with the server log data, indicating low criterion validity. The categorical self-report measure asking respondents to estimate “how often” they use their mobile phones fared better than the continuous self-report measure asking them to estimate their mobile phone activity “yesterday.” A multivariate exploratory analysis further suggests that it may be difficult to identify under- and overreporting using demographic variables alone.
@article{JCC4:JCC412021,
abstract = {Approximately 40% of mobile phone use studies published in scholarly communication journals base their findings on self-report data about how frequently respondents use their mobile phones. Using a subset of a larger representative sample we examine the validity of this type of self-report data by comparing it to server log data. The self-report data correlate only moderately with the server log data, indicating low criterion validity. The categorical self-report measure asking respondents to estimate “how often” they use their mobile phones fared better than the continuous self-report measure asking them to estimate their mobile phone activity “yesterday.” A multivariate exploratory analysis further suggests that it may be difficult to identify under- and overreporting using demographic variables alone.},
added-at = {2014-02-21T12:34:39.000+0100},
author = {Boase, Jeffrey and Ling, Rich},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b529f7b3f545dc30d11773b06ec50fd7/griesbau},
doi = {10.1111/jcc4.12021},
interhash = {e2b38347c0fe5dd1da3d9a0ec54462ef},
intrahash = {b529f7b3f545dc30d11773b06ec50fd7},
issn = {1083-6101},
journal = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
keywords = {data measurement phones self-report},
number = 4,
pages = {508--519},
publisher = {Blackwell Publishing Ltd},
timestamp = {2014-02-21T12:34:39.000+0100},
title = {Measuring Mobile Phone Use: Self-Report Versus Log Data},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12021},
volume = 18,
year = 2013
}