iSurvey

The rise of technology is promising for psychological research. Researchers can now use convenient apps to administer surveys to participants and receive individualized tracking with minimal work. However, this shift also raised concerns about the relationship between researcher and participant, the reliability of the software and concerns of confidentiality.

Last summer as a Research Assistant in the McGill Social Interaction Lab I transferred our surveys to a survey phone application, because it would be more efficient and convenient for participants. In the current study, we are using Event Contingent Recording, where participants fill out a survey every time they have a significant social interaction defined by specific criteria. Thus, participants fill out multiple forms a day and convenience and efficiency was a critical determinant in the decision to use the app. In addition, the majority of our participant, who are students, have a cellphone which they use on a regular basis, therefore, using the app made the study more attractive towards students.

Although the app has been extremely beneficial to the study, there have also been some concerns.

First, since we use Event Contingent Recording over a 20-day period it is important to maintain contact and establish a rapport with the participants. In the past, we would call the participants every few days to check in on their progress and encourage their continued participation. However, the app has built in notifications to remind the participants to fill out surveys, and the participant’s progress can be tracked online. This raised concerns about decreased rapport with the participants. We noticed a decline in response rate, and therefore, decided to reinstate daily contact, through text or phone call, with participants.

Another issue faced was offline capability. Many participants do not have data plans and parts of the survey were not available offline while using the app. This meant that if the participant was not in a wifi zone and had a significant social interaction they would not have been able to fill out a survey. This led to some participants filling out less surveys than they would have if they had wifi or data.

We also faced multiple technical glitches and lost data because of software updates. These problems were eventually resolved, although the data that was lost cannot be retrieved. The reliability of the software is very important when choosing to administer a survey through an app.

Using an app created by a company, where the data collected is uploaded to their website and server raises the question of confidentiality. In research, confidentiality is quite important for researchers and for participants. Despite these concerns, the data was only accessible by those given administrative access to an account and the data could be downloaded and deleted from the website protecting the confidentiality of the participants.

Using phone applications for survey administration increases the ease-of-use, it can reduce the time it takes to complete a survey, as compared to a paper and pencil survey and it can attract a great number of younger adults and student participants.