1. Paper or plastic? Data equivalence in paper and electronic diaries
- Author
-
Patrick E. Shrout, Amie S. Green, Eshkol Rafaeli, Harry T. Reis, and Niall Bolger
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Paper ,Self-assessment ,Self-Assessment ,Experience sampling method ,Time Factors ,Adolescent ,Psychometrics ,Writing ,Emotions ,computer.software_genre ,Diary studies ,Medical Records ,Bias ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Humans ,Interpersonal Relations ,Mathematical Computing ,Equivalence (measure theory) ,Data collection ,business.industry ,Multilevel model ,Reproducibility of Results ,Computers, Handheld ,Data Interpretation, Statistical ,Data quality ,Patient Compliance ,Female ,Psychology (miscellaneous) ,Artificial intelligence ,Psychology ,business ,Social psychology ,computer ,Natural language processing - Abstract
Concern has been raised about the lack of participant compliance in diary studies that use paper-and-pencil as opposed to electronic formats. Three studies explored the magnitude of compliance problems and their effects on data quality. Study 1 used random signals to elicit diary reports and found close matches to self-reported completion times, matches that could not plausibly have been fabricated. Studies 2 and 3 examined the psychometric and statistical equivalence of data obtained with paper versus electronic formats. With minor exceptions, both methods yielded data that were equivalent psychometrically and in patterns of findings. These results serve to at least partially mollify concern about the validity of paper diary methods.
- Published
- 2006