Mobile Data Collection - Incentive Experiment

The goal of this study was to experimentally measure the influence of different incentive schemes on the willingness to participate in passive mobile data collection among German smartphone owners. The data come from a web survey among German smartphone users 18 years and older who were recruited from a German nonprobability online panel. In December 2017, 1,214 respondents completed a questionnaire on smartphone use and skills, privacy and security concerns, general attitudes towards survey research and research institutions. In addition, the questionnaire included an experiment on the willingness to participate in mobile data collection under different incentive conditions.

Topics: Ownership of smartphone, cell phone, desktop or laptop computer, tablet computer, and/or e-book reader; type of smartphone; willingness to participate in mobile data collection under different incentive conditions; likelihood of downloading the app to particiapte in this research study; respondent would rather participate in the study if he could receive 100 euros; total amount to be earned for the respondent ot participate in the study (open answer); reason why the respondent wouldn´t participate in the research study; willlingness to participate in the study for an incentive of 60 euros in total; willingness to activate different functions when downloading the app (interaction history, smartphone usage, charateristics of the social network, network quality and location information, activity data); previous invitation for research app download; research app download; frequency of smartphone use; smartphone activities (browsing, e-mails, taking pictures, view/ post social media content, shopping, online banking, installing apps, using GPS-enabled apps, connecting via Bluethooth, playing games, stream music/ videos); self-assessment of smartphone skills; attitude towards surveys and participaton at research studies (personal interest, waste of time, sales pitch, interesting experience, useful); trust in institutions regarding data privacy (market research companies, university researchers, government authorities such as the Federal Statistical Office, mobile service provider, app companies, credit card companies, online retailer, and social media platforms); general privacy concern; feeling of privacy violation by banks and credit card companies, tax authorities, government agencies, market research, social networks, apps, and internet browsers; concern regarding data security with smartphone activities for research purposes (online survey, survey apps, research apps, SMS survey, camera, activity data, GPS location, Bluetooth).

Demography: sex, age; federal state; highest level of school education; highest level of vocational education.

Additionally coded was: running number; duration (response time in seconds); device type used to fill out the questionnaire.