Engaging Users for Participating in a European Data Collection Campaign with Smartphones

Abstract

Researchers worldwide require valuable data to confirm and validate their models or theories. Obtaining such data, especially concerning people's behaviour, is very difficult. Although ICT technologies can facilitate the data collection process, it is necessary to consider the right promotional and communication tools to ensure the required sample size. The paper provides evidence on users' engagement during the European data collection campaign (H2020 MoTiV project ) using the Woorti mobile application. The results show that using the mobile application to collect data does not automatically attract and engage citizens. This brings several challenges to be addressed during the data collection campaign. The study found that electronic media are not always the most effective channels to attract users to research. Direct addressing and outreach events seem to be more effective for this purpose. This case study also shows that although incentives motivate people to participate in data collection, the most crucial factor in their participation is contributing to the research.