Where You at? Using GPS Locations in an Electronic Time Use Diary Study to Derive Functional Locations

A. Elevelt, Wim Bernasco, P.J. Lugtig, S. Ruiter, V. Toepoel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Smartphones enable passive collection of sensor data alongside survey participation. Location data add context to people’s reports about their time use. In addition, linking global positioning system data to self-reported time use surveys (TUSs) can be valuable for understanding how people spend their time. This article investigates whether and how passive collection of geographical locations (coordinates) proves useful for deriving respondents’ functional locations. Participants of the ongoing Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in the Netherlands were invited to participate in a TUS administered with a smartphone app that also unobtrusively tracked respondents’ locations. Respondents reported their activities per 10-min interval in a smartphone diary app (n = 1,339) and shared their geographical location data (n = 1,264). The correspondence between the functional locations derived from the time use data and those derived from the geographical location data was assessed by calculating the percentage of intervals in which both measures are similar. Overall, results show that home locations can be automatically assigned reliably but that respondent information is required to reliably assign work or school locations. In addition, location tracking data contain many measurement errors, making it difficult to record valid locations. Multilevel models show that the variability in correct classifications is intrapersonal and largely predicted by phone type, which determines location measurement frequency.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)509-526
Number of pages18
JournalSocial Science Computer Review
Volume39
Issue number4
Early online date2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2021

Keywords

  • GPS coordinates
  • location tracking
  • sensor data
  • smartphone survey
  • time use survey

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Where You at? Using GPS Locations in an Electronic Time Use Diary Study to Derive Functional Locations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this