Challenging robustness of online survey via smartphones: A view from utilizing big five personal traits test

Abstract

As smartphones are widely available, automatically generated data through smartphones gain more importance. They attract large attention as the major source of big data. However, traditional survey data do not lose the value because it is essential for obtaining responses that reflect one’s thinking process and responding behaviors. Thus, online survey, which uses smartphones as input device, have become major method. Online survey is expected to have the benefits related to both size and thinking process. However, because of its nature of easy-to-use, the data quality may not be as good as paper-based survey. This paper looks into a case of the Big Five Personality Tests, which were run on Japanese university students, comparing paper-based and online-based/smartphone-based methods. Statistical analysis shows that there are differences between them. This paper suggests that the Big Five Personal Traits Test can be a yardstick to check the robustness of smartphone-based online survey.