Data donation and linking digital trace data 1 |
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| Coordinator 1 | Ms Laura Boeschoten (Universiteit Utrecht) |
| Coordinator 2 | Mr Johannes Breuer (GESIS) |
| Coordinator 3 | Mr Zoltán Kmetty (Centre for Social Sciences) |
| Coordinator 4 | Mrs Júlia Koltai (Centre for Social Sciences) |
| Coordinator 5 | Mr Adam Stefkovics (Harvard University) |
| Coordinator 6 | Ms Bella Struminskaya (Universiteit Utrecht) |
Digital traces on digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, Whatsapp, etc., and other online traces left by citizens are promising sources of information for scientific research in various fields. Although there are multiple ways to access digital data traces, in recent years, a new approach built on the partnership with citizens has emerged. Donated data can be obtained through installing web and app trackers on participants’ devices, or through data download packages from digital platforms. As opposed to self-reports from surveys which may suffer from measurement error due to recall or social desirability bias, digital traces can provide reliable, behavioral data free from those error sources. When combined with self-report, validity and reliability of measures derived from digital traces can be investigated. Linking several digital trace data sources can provide more insights into the phenomenon but also brings challenges.
While research is growing in this field, we still know little about how to best optimize digital donation approaches, the patterns and determinants of participation and ways to preserve participants’ privacy and linking digital trace data with survey responses.
We invite contributions for the session which provide new theoretical or empirical insights into any phase or aspect of donation of digital trace data. Contributions may cover the following topics but not limited to:
· Data donation methods and methods of data extraction
· Willingness to donate digital trace data, best practices for recruitment
· Sampling, and nonparticipation errors, missing data
· Validity of digital trace data
· Privacy issues, ethical issues, anonymization
· Issues of linking digital data with survey data
· Challenges, analyzing combined data
· Substantive contributions which combine digital trace and survey data