Is everyone able to use a smartphone in survey research? Tests with a Time-use App with Experienced and Inexperienced Users

Abstract

The number of people accessing the web by mobile devices is rapidly increasing. Unfortunately, conducting representative research using only smartphones is not possible, because the penetration of smartphone users is too low and selective (Fuchs and Busse 2009; PewInternet 2013). One solution is to provide smartphones to the people who do not own one. The Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP and CentERdata (Tilburg University) jointly tested a time-use app on smartphones with 100 participants, both experienced and inexperienced smartphone users. Those without a smartphone could borrow one and could get extra instructions in using the phone and the app. This paper gives an overview of these tests and addresses the question whether smartphones and apps are feasible to conduct survey research with inexperienced (and experienced) users.