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The sound of respondents: predicting respondents’ level of interest in questions with voice data in smartphone surveys

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Karem Höhne

    (Leibniz University Hannover)

  • Christoph Kern

    (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)

  • Konstantin Gavras

    (Nesto Software GmbH)

  • Stephan Schlosser

    (University of Göttingen)

Abstract

Web surveys completed on smartphones open novel ways for measuring respondents’ attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that are crucial for social science research and many adjacent research fields. In this study, we make use of the built-in microphones of smartphones to record voice answers in a smartphone survey and extract non-verbal cues, such as amplitudes and pitches, from the collected voice data. This allows us to predict respondents’ level of interest (i.e., disinterest, neutral, and high interest) based on their voice answers, which expands the opportunities for researching respondents’ engagement and answer behavior. We conducted a smartphone survey in a German online access panel and asked respondents four open-ended questions on political parties with requests for voice answers. In addition, we measured respondents’ self-reported survey interest using a closed-ended question with an end-labeled, seven-point rating scale. The results show a non-linear association between respondents’ predicted level of interest and answer length. Respondents with a predicted medium level of interest provide longer answers in terms of number of words and response times. However, respondents’ predicted level of interest and their self-reported interest are weakly associated. Finally, we argue that voice answers contain rich meta-information about respondents’ affective states, which are yet to be utilized in survey research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Karem Höhne & Christoph Kern & Konstantin Gavras & Stephan Schlosser, 2024. "The sound of respondents: predicting respondents’ level of interest in questions with voice data in smartphone surveys," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 2907-2927, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:58:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11135-023-01776-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-023-01776-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frederick G. Conrad & Jessica S. Broome & José R. Benkí & Frauke Kreuter & Robert M. Groves & David Vannette & Colleen McClain, 2013. "Interviewer speech and the success of survey invitations," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(1), pages 191-210, January.
    2. Proksch, Sven-Oliver & Wratil, Christopher & Wäckerle, Jens, 2019. "Testing the Validity of Automatic Speech Recognition for Political Text Analysis," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(3), pages 339-359, July.
    3. repec:plo:pone00:0128337 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Konstantin Gavras & Jan Karem Höhne & Annelies G. Blom & Harald Schoen, 2022. "Innovating the collection of open‐ended answers: The linguistic and content characteristics of written and oral answers to political attitude questions," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 872-890, July.
    5. Tobias Gummer & Jan Karem Höhne & Tobias Rettig & Joss Roßmann & Mirjan Kummerow, 2023. "Is there a growing use of mobile devices in web surveys? Evidence from 128 web surveys in Germany," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 5333-5353, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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