A framework for privacy preserving digital trace data collection through data donation

Linking Surveys and Digital Trace Data: Insights From two Studies on Determinants of Data Sharing Behaviour

“…As a consequence, attitudes and values only affect sharing behaviour to a small degree. Hence, factors that directly relate to the data sharing difficulty, such as the data sharing method (Araujo et al, 2021; Boeschoten et al, 2020) should be tested and optimised for research that seeks to combine surveys and digital trace data. Providing survey respondents with additional incentives (Keusch et al, 2019) also seems beneficial for increasing the willingness to share data from digital platforms.…”

“…Firstly, the way in which people are asked to share their digital trace data ( data sharing method ) is likely to influence the sharing decision (Boeschoten et al, 2020; Settanni et al, 2018). There are various ways of collecting digital trace data that differ, among other things, in the type of data they generate as well as in the amount of effort the data sharing requires (Breuer et al, 2020).…”

“…Or researchers can ask participants to use an app or browser‐plugin that records (parts of) their digital traces (de Haan & Hendriks, 2013; Haim & Nienierza, 2019; Kosinski et al, 2013). Another option is to ask participants to export (parts of) their digital trace data themselves, which is a functionality that most platforms and services offer, and then share these ‘data download packages’ (Boeschoten et al, 2020) with the researchers, for example, by uploading them through a web tool. This relatively new approach is often called ‘data donation’ due to the active role of the respondents within the data sharing process (see, e.g., Araujo et al, 2021).…”

“…Understanding the different ways in which surveys and digital trace data can be linked is important to assess the nature and quality of the resulting combined data. The options for linking surveys and digital trace data and their outcomes depend on a variety of factors, including technological developments and privacy considerations (Beuthner et al, 2021; Boeschoten et al, 2020; Nissenbaum, 2018; Oberski & Kreuter, 2020). A key challenge, hence, is choosing the appropriate linking option(s) for answering specific research questions.…”

OSD2F: An Open-Source Data Donation Framework

“…Online platforms can take up to 30 days to answer data requestsand while some services only require a login to access the data, especially smaller companies or news organizations often require authentication (e.g., in the form of an ID copy) to proceed with data requests. Researchers are thus advised to carefully consider the instructions provided to participants and establish a support process for questions and consider potential biases in the recruitment (see Boeschoten et al, 2020).…”