Assessing the Validity of Survey Measures for News Exposure through Digital Footprints: Evidence from Spain and the UK. (3rd September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cardenal, Ana S.; Victoria-Mas, María; Majó-Vázquez, Silvia; Lacasa-Mas, Iván
• Is Part Of: Political communication. Volume 39:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 634
• Page End: 651
• Publication Date: 2022-09-03
• Subjects: Media exposure -- survey measures -- digital footprints -- overreporting -- cognitive bias; Communication -- Political aspects -- Periodicals; Communication in politics -- Periodicals; 306.205
• DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2022.2090038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1058-4609

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper assesses the performance of three commonly used types of questions – open-ended, check-all and forced choice – for capturing retrospective online news exposure, combining both survey and web-tracking data. It examines the performance of these different survey questions considering both systematic and random error in two unexplored non-US contexts: Spain and the UK. Results show that the check-all question produces on average the most accurate – i.e. less biased – estimates of observed exposure. Some motivational and cognitive factors underlying bias in self-reports are explored. Findings reveal that the characteristics of outlets are associated with systematic error. Finally, we find that media systems matter for accuracy – where media fragmentation is high (Spain), accuracy is low across all questions; where it is low (UK), accuracy is high across all questions. In the final section, we highlight the methodological and theoretical contributions of our study and provide some recommendations.