Smartphones som undersökningsinstrument
As the number of people owning a smartphone rapidly increases so too does the opportunity for various researchers to exploit this technology. The possibility to recruit people to participate in research studies improves and with it the chance to get more diversified target groups in terms of age, socio-economic status, geographical location, etc.In this essay, I argue that the opportunities smartphones offer in terms of collecting research material is vastly underestimated in several areas, bearing in mind the advantages they present. In order to support my argument, I shall present a case study carried out in the research area of happiness ? an area where the use of smartphones has provided significant opportunities for research.In order to gather the advantages and disadvantages of this method of study from the participants? perspective, I have followed a happiness research study which is a collaboration between Umeå University and The University of Stockholm. I have interviewed the participants of this study in order to assess the advantages and opportunities that smartphones offer in research programs.Overall, the participants? opinion of this research method was generally positive and it was considered to be quite easy to participate in the study and respond to the questions asked. A strong advantage that this method offers is that it is possible for the researcher to get a unique insight into the participants? life. A flaw in using this method is though that the user experience is very dependent on the context of use, which can result in exogenous factors influencing the experience in unexpected and unwanted ways.The conclusion of this study is that smartphones can offer a powerful tool in research where the participants are to give short and quick answers to questions or where the smartphone serves to only collect background data.