Dept. of Media Psychology presents research at Methods Division of the DGPuK [18.09.26]
Digital trace data offers novel means to measure media exposure, selection, and attention. At the Annual Conference of the Methods Division of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), Kerria Drüppel, from the Department of Media Psychology will argue why we need distinct definitions and operationalizations of these terms when working with digital trace data.
Source: pexels / Monstera Production
Digital trace data promise to measure media exposure, selection, and attention more precisely than self-reports. Yet the three terms are frequently used interchangeably in research and operationalized inconsistently. For example, some studies treat the duration of media exposure interchangeably with attention. However, this might lead to misinterpretations. If a video keeps playing in the background while finishing other tasks or the phone is left playing on the table while answering the door, digital trace data will register a long duration which gets interpreted as attention to the content. At the Annual Conference of the Methods Division of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), Kerria Drüppel discusses exposure, media selection, and attention, and shows how these three concepts can be operationalized in digital trace data through dwell times and explicit engagement behaviors such as liking, commenting, or sharing.
