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Annual Conference 67th Annual Conference Evaluating New Frontiers in Public Opinion and Social Research Conference Program May 17–20, 2012 JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes • Orlando, Florida www.aapor.org AAPOR 12 FP.indd 1 5/2/12 11:24 AM Thursday, May 17, 2012 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Concurrent Sesson A New Frontiers: Interactive and Gaming Techniques to Improve Surveys Interactive and Gaming Techniques to Improve Surveys Elizabeth Dean, RTI International ([email protected]); Adam Sage, RTI International ([email protected]); Jennie W. Lai, Nielsen ([email protected]); Michael Link, Nielsen ([email protected]); Ashley Richards, RTI International ([email protected]); Lorelle Vanno, Nielsen ([email protected]); Jeffrey Henning, Affinova, Inc. ([email protected]) The mobile, digitally networked era has expanded communication tools and styles. Technological augmentation of social networks enables screening calls, blocking contacts, and avoiding face to face interaction. These technologies also facilitate active and passive sharing of massive amounts of personal information while building virtual communities to meet real social needs. Online communication styles signify the arrival of a model for surveying very different from the two-way “conversation with a purpose.” One norm of online communication is interactivity. Facebook’s model of status updates, user comments, “likes,” and live feeds of social conversation can now be considered a norm for online communication. A second norm of online communication is the game. People compete in online games to earn rewards, status, and achievement but also to express themselves, build community, and experience altruism. “Gamification” makes routine experiences more engaging by providing points, badges and status for behaviors like checking in to venues (Foursquare) and buying coffee (My Starbucks Rewards). Social games like Farmville enable users to obtain these rewards and connect with others by linking to Facebook and playing within existing social networks. These new styles of communication necessitate an examination of survey research norms. Market researchers have adopted interactive techniques, but survey methodologists have yet to systematically assess them. These papers evaluate survey techniques harnessing interactivity and game elements to improve surveys. Research in this session includes: an iPhone survey that tests gamification and social sharing features against a standard mobile survey; applications of game design elements like role-playing and arbitrary rules to questionnaire design; Facebook Applications for recruiting survey respondents, panel maintenance, and engaging study participants; and a test of the randomized response technique in a controlled virtual world environment. As a whole, this session will assess the impact of gamification and social interactivity on respondent engagement and survey data Abstract #1: The growing usage of smartphone applications (or “apps”), particularly among young adults, has opened a new frontier for data collection. This emerging method of Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing (CASI) offers new techniques to engage respondents on the mobile platform in response to the persistent challenge of respondent cooperation. The use of game mechanics has been integrated with smartphone apps in the recent years to draw on the intrinsic motivation for users to engage in a task. The tools for game mechanics such as points, badges, levels, challenges and leaderboards are used to motivate desired behaviors (i.e., “gamifying” the process but not necessarily turning the task completely into a “game”). Moreover, “social sharing” on networks such as Facebook is a defining attribute for today’s youth and a critical feature of some of the most successful apps. The mechanics of “social sharing” such as comments, posting updates or “liking” the status of others are engaging features to connect the users within the app community and social networks such as Facebook. Leveraging both game and social mechanics for mobile app research can maximize respondent engagement for longitudinal data collection. To measure these emerging techniques for engagement, Nielsen will conduct a split sample experiment contrasting two versions of the iPhone app to collect media usage information. One version of the app will be fully integrated with game and social mechanics while the other version will be initiated without these features, then add the game and social mechanics in phases. This experiment is expected to gather learning on the effectiveness of these emerging techniques for respondent engagement and demonstrate whether data collection via smartphone app is a viable method for repeated measures of the hard-to-reach younger cohorts. Abstract #2: This research explores the utility of Facebook applications as survey and passive data collection platforms. Facebook applications are interactive, user-facing tools that allow users to interact and enhance the user experience through social games, quizzes, and other interactive and social tools. Facebook’s Graph Application Programming Interface offers researchers the tools necessary to develop applications that can allow access to both public and private data (provided access is permitted), which in turn offer data collection capabilities survey researchers are now only beginning to understand. Traditional survey questionnaires constrain not only the type of data that can be collected, but also the volume, accuracy, and timeliness of the data and data collection process. Facebook’s Graph API is revolutionizing the way we conceptualize the word “data,” which has major implications across a variety of dimensions directly related to the field of survey research. For instance, Facebook offers the capability to stream data in real-time, drawing from a user-base of over 800 million, and in forms that are both new (e.g. location check-in, social networks, and status updates) and old (e.g. demographic data). Facebook applications offer researchers an opportunity to develop unique approaches to address research questions. These applications also provide a platform for questionnaire administration, data creation, and passive data collection in real-time. This paper explores the applicability of Facebook applications, such as social gaming and Facebook user-experience-enhancing applications, to survey research. Results from a pilot study involving the use of a Facebook application to engage the social networks of military personnel to build registries will be used to explore the potential uses of applications. Specifically, this research aims to provide a better understanding of the new types of data being developed, Facebook applications as a mode of questionnaire administration, participant recruitment, implications to sample development, and limitations to be addressed going forward. Abstract #3: This research explores the utility of Facebook applications as survey and passive data collection platforms. Facebook applications are interactive, user-facing tools that allow users to interact and enhance the user experience through social games, quizzes, and other interactive and social tools. Facebook’s Graph Application Programming Interface offers researchers the tools necessary to develop applications that can allow access to both public and private data (provided access is permitted), which in turn offer data collection capabilities survey researchers are now only beginning to understand. Traditional survey questionnaires constrain not only the type of data that can be collected, but also the volume, accuracy, and timeliness of the data and data collection process. Facebook’s Graph API is revolutionizing the way we conceptualize the word “data,” which has major implications across a variety of dimensions directly related to the field of survey research. For instance, Facebook offers the capability to stream data in real-time, drawing from a user-base of over 800 million, and in forms that are both new (e.g. location check-in, social networks, and status updates) and old (e.g. demographic data). Facebook applications offer researchers an opportunity to develop unique approaches to address research questions. These applications also provide a platform for questionnaire administration, data creation, and passive data collection in real-time. This paper explores the applicability of Facebook applications, such as social gaming and Facebook user-experience-enhancing applications, to survey research. Results from a pilot study involving the use of a Facebook application to engage the social networks of military personnel to build registries will be used to explore the potential uses of applications. Specifically, this research aims to provide a better understanding of the new types of data being developed, Facebook applications as a mode of questionnaire administration, participant recruitment, implications to sample development, and limitations to be addressed going forward. Abstract #4: The Randomized Response Technique (RRT) is used to encourage accurate responding to sensitive survey questions. When using the RRT, respondents are given two questions (one sensitive and the other nonsensitive with a known response distribution) and are instructed to answer one of them. The question to be answered is determined by the outcome of a random act with a known probability (e.g. a coin toss), that only the respondent sees. Researchers do not know which question each respondent answered, but are able to calculate proportions for each response
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