Measuring self-disclosure online: Blurring and non-response to sensitive items in web-based surveys

Adam N. Joinson, Carina Paine, Tom Buchanan, Ulf Dietrich Reips

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

100 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

People are increasingly required to disclose personal information to computer- and Internet-based systems in order to register, identify themselves or simply for the system to work as designed. In the present paper, we outline two different methods to easily measure people's behavioral self-disclosure to web-based forms. The first, the use of an 'I prefer not to say' option to sensitive questions is shown to be responsive to the manipulation of level of privacy concern by increasing the salience of privacy issues, and to experimental manipulations of privacy. The second, blurring or increased ambiguity was used primarily by males in response to an income question in a high privacy condition. Implications for the study of self-disclosure in human-computer interaction and web-based research are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2158-2171
Number of pages14
JournalComputers in Human Behavior
Volume24
Issue number5
Early online date20 Feb 2008
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2008

Funding

Funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council E-Society Programme (RES-341-25-0011) supported the work reported in this article. We are grateful for the invaluable comments provided by two anonymous reviewers, and associate editor Paul Kirschner.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Measuring self-disclosure online: Blurring and non-response to sensitive items in web-based surveys'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this