Future Data Collection

CARMA Internet Research ModuleJeff Stanton

Several Promising Environments and Techniques

• Visual Surveys• Audio and video interviewing• Virtual Worlds• Web scraping• Network extraction and mapping• Polls Everywhere• Mobility

Visual SurveysVisual DNA: http://www.visualdna.com/Also try: http://www.youniverse.com/

Visual Surveys

Provides an engaging alternative to text-based surveys; more fun for respondents

Requires considerable set-up time; each screen is like an item; each picture is like an item response; every item and response must be keyed against one or more criteriaExample: Previous page, “How do you approach

stress,” could be keyed against other subjective or objective measures of stress, coping, general health, immune response, etc.

Audio and Video Interviewing

Methods: Structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviewing; focus groups

Products: Skype, WebEx, Adobe Connect, Cisco Telepresence

Advantages: Reduced travel costs, speed

Disadvantages: High bandwidth,user technology requirements, unreliable connections

Virtual Worlds

VastPark: http://www.vastpark.com/

Virtual Worlds

Combine text and audio chat with social networking and 3D model building

Methods: Structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviewing; focus groups; unobtrusive observation; participant observation; possibly some experimental perceptual, cooperative, or navigational tasks

Products: VastPark, OpenSim, EduSim, TeleplaceAdvantages: Speed, low costDisadvantages: Steep learning curve; high bandwidth;

user technology requirements; unreliable connections

Web Scraping

Web Scraping

Retrieval and processing of text or images, e.g., from blogs; processing may include semantic analysis of people, events, emotions

Methods: Archival document analysisProducts: 100s of commercial, mainly focused on brand,

reputation, marketing; open source product: WebHarvestAdvantages: Data are plentiful and cover a wide range of

topicsDisadvantages: Technology hard to master; even after

considerable automated processing, analysis has an intensive, qualitative flavor

Network Mapping

Mapping Social Networks

Nicholas Christakis of the Framingham Heart Study has shown the power of social networks to influence a variety of health outcomes

Methods: Traditional self-report & objective measures; topographical measures such as network centrality; “neighbor” measures

Products: Depends on data types; TouchGraph is a network web search engine; InFlow; UCInet; See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis_software

Advantages: Meaningful improvement in predictive capabilityDisadvantages: Intensive technique requires careful planning and

setup

Facebook Polls

Embedded Polls

Collection of short-format survey data from social networking and membership sites

Methods: Primarily standard, closed-ended self-report; single item scales

Products: Example: Vizu provides a “widget” that allows embedding of polls on Facebook pages

Advantages: Quick, cheap, possible to get a large sample in a short time

Disadvantages: Difficult to control access, short format limits use of multi-item scales

Mobility

Data Collection from Mobile Devices

Using smartphones and other mobile devices as a basis for interacting with participants

Methods: Primarily self-report but can include location and movement data

Products: Example: Survey On The Spot allows location aware surveys to be delivered to smart phones; TrailGuru collects route data from hikers and joggers

Advantages: Platform is becoming ubiquitous, location data provides new options for understanding behavior

Disadvantages: Privacy issues, small screen, complex programming interfaces