CSS-Seminar:

Using Smartphones to Implement Mixed Methods Designs: Examples & Challenges

A decade ago, the "Smartphone Psychology Manifesto" was published by Miller (2012)¹, who predicted that smartphones will completely revolutionize the social science research landscape. The first steps have certainly been taken, but there is still some way to go.

For illustration, Ramona Schoedel will present two large-scale panel studies in which she used a colorful mix of data collection methods implemented with the help of smartphones: Mobile administration of web surveys, experience sampling methods, and passive data tracking (e.g., screen and app logs, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, keyboard usage). However, the integration of these approaches poses some new methodological challenges.

Ramona Schoedel will talk about selected challenges based on her own research experience with smartphones: Firstly, she will provide insights into the extent to which findings can depend on the many degrees of freedom of the researcher in data pre-processing when working with passively collected data. Second, she will focus on systematic non-compliance in experience sampling studies and how passive data collection methods help to detect it. Finally, she will address the challenges that arise when using passive data collection methods in relation to selection bias.

¹ Miller, G. (2012). The smartphone psychology manifesto. Perspectives on psychological science, 7(3), 221-237.

Speaker

Ramona Schoedel is Professor of Differential Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics at Charlotte Fresenius Hochschule and a research associate at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Her research focuses on the question of how digital footprints can be utilized for psychological research. Her focus is on smartphone sensing methods and the investigation of individual differences in behavior in various everyday situations.

Please contact css.events[at]gesis.org if you are interested in this talk.