Smartphones vs PCs: Does the Device Affect the Web Survey Experience and the Measurement Error for Sensitive Topics? - A Replication of the Mavletova & Couper’s 2013 Experiment

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2016.v10i2.6274

Keywords:

web surveys, mobile participation, smartphones, survey optimization, sensitive questions, measurement error

Abstract

More and more respondents use mobile devices to complete web surveys. These devices have different characteristics, if compared to PCs (e.g. smaller screen sizes and higher portability). These characteristics can affect the survey responses, mostly when a questionnaire includes sensitive questions. This topic was already studied by Mavletova and Couper (2013), through a two-wave experiment comparing PCs and mobile devices results for the same respondents in a Russian opt-in panel. We replicated this cross-over design, focusing on an opt-in panel for Spain, involving 1,800 panellists and comparing PCs and smartphones. Our results support most of Mavletova and Couper’s (2013) findings (e.g. generally the used device does not significantly affect the reporting of sensitive information), confirming their robustness over the two studied countries. For other results (e.g. trust in data confidentiality), we found differences that can be justified by the diverse context/culture or by the quick changes that are still characterizing the mobile web survey participation.

Author Biographies

Daniele Toninelli, University of Bergamo

Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods - Assistant Professor

Melanie Revilla, RECSM - Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Researcher at the Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology (RECSM)

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Published

2016-08-15

How to Cite

Toninelli, D., & Revilla, M. (2016). Smartphones vs PCs: Does the Device Affect the Web Survey Experience and the Measurement Error for Sensitive Topics? - A Replication of the Mavletova & Couper’s 2013 Experiment. Survey Research Methods, 10(2), 153–169. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2016.v10i2.6274

Issue

Section

Replication Studies

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