Welcome to my website.

I’m a Research Fellow in the Data and Methods Unit at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) at the Universiy of Mannheim.

I’m also a Research Associate at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and currently serve as Vice President of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA).

I’m interested in topics related to survey methodology and social data science. In my research, I examine the quality of novel methods of data collection, with a focus on mobile web surveys, smartphone apps, wearable sensors, and digital behavioral data.

Education

  • Ph.D. Survey Methodology, 2018

    University of Essex

  • B.A. Politics and Public Administration, 2014

    University of Konstanz

Selected Publications

See CV for complete list of publications

(2024). Measuring smartphone use: Survey versus digital behavioral data. Social Science Computer Review, 1-20.

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(2023). Increasing the acceptance of smartphone-based data collection. Public Opinion Quarterly, 87(2), 357-388.

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(2023). The second-level smartphone divide: A typology of smartphone use based on frequency of use, skills, and types of activities. Mobile Media & Communication, 11(3), 459-483.

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(2022). The effects of personalized feedback on participation and reporting in mobile app data collection. Social Science Computer Review, 40(1), 165-178.

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(2022). Increasing participation in a mobile app study: The effects of a sequential mixed-mode design and in-interview invitation. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, 10(4), 898-922.

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(2022). Do you have your smartphone with you? Behavioral barriers for measuring everyday activities with smartphone sensors. Computers in Human Behavior, 127, 107054.

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(2021). Do distractions during web survey completion affect data quality? Findings from a laboratory experiment. Social Science Computer Review, 39(1), 148-161.

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(2021). Language proficiency among respondents: Implications for data quality in a longitudinal face-to-face survey. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, 9(1), 73-93.

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(2021). Linking Twitter and survey data: Asymmetry in quantity and its impact. EPJ Data Science, 10: 32.

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(2019). Willingness to use mobile technologies for data collection in a probability household panel. Survey Research Methods, 13(1), 1-22.

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Projects

Acceptance of Smartphone Technologies for Social Science Data Collection

Funded by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, 2023-2026

The rising spread of smartphones in the general population offers empirical social research new opportunities for collecting data about attitudes and behaviours. Smartphones allow administering surveys and, at the same time, collecting detailed behavioural data through the smartphone’s built-in sensors. However, a major challenge of smartphone-based data collection is the low willingness of the population to participate. Selective participation by certain subgroups of the population can lead to biased results.
This project aims to develop and test a theoretical framework of the social acceptance of smartphones as a data collection tool in empirical social research. The aim is to improve the representativeness of smartphone-based studies. The main questions are which social psychological factors explain the willingness to participate and which measures can be used to increase this willingness. The theoretical framework will be developed based on a systematic review of technology acceptance theories as well as qualitative in-depth interviews with smartphone users and tested as part of a smartphone data collection.

Recent Talks

Social and Ethnic Segregation in German Cities: A Smartphone-Based Assessment of Activity Spaces
Workshop "The Power of Where: Spatial Insights from Survey Data", Cottbus, Germany
February 29-March 1, 2024

Using Large Language Models for Evaluating and Improving Survey Questions
General Online Research Conference, Cologne, Germany
February 21-23, 2024

Contact

  • a.wenz (at) uni-mannheim.de
  • +49 (621) 181-2019
  • University of Mannheim
    Mannheim Centre for European Social Research
    A5, 6 | Room A 244
    68131 Mannheim, Germany