What we learned about surveying with mobile apps
This week marks a new experimental milestone for Pew Research Center: We've 
4) There are some advantages to using apps for “experience sampling” of this kind. Even though we didn't do it in our research, apps can be programmed to passively collect non-survey data from smartphones, including information about what other apps are being used by respondents and information about respondents' location, which can be gathered via the phone's GPS system. Of course, researchers collecting that kind of data would have to get additional consent from respondents to have this kind of data capture take place. One thing we did learn is that apps can work offline by notifying respondents about a survey and allowing them to complete it when they aren't connected to the internet, which provides an added convenience to the survey-taker.
5) Using apps in survey research also has its disadvantages: It can be costly and be limited in terms of design and devices. First, some survey apps vendors price their services on a per-survey basis, which is not ideal for the type of repeated data collection to which an app lends itself. Second, apps can have more design constraints than Web surveys. For instance, in our survey, the design limited our ability to provide randomized-response options and provided limited options in terms of navigation buttons and check boxes. These constraints can introduce measurement error. Third, apps are mobile-focused. They have to be installed on either a smartphone or tablet, whereas Web surveys can be taken on a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop.
A technical paper on this new methodology was released earlier this week and will be presented to public opinion experts at the annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research next month.
