Understanding America Study

Understanding America Study appears in New study reveals a "smartphone penalty" that distorts survey results as the long-running panel run by the University of Southern California that Carly Urban’s team used for a randomized device experiment. Some respondents were required to use smartphones, while others were required to use a desktop, laptop, or tablet.

The panel is important here because it lets the source move beyond correlation. The episode does not only compare lower scores among people who happened to use phones; it describes an assignment design that tests whether the device itself can create a Smartphone Survey Penalty.

Connections

• University of Southern California - institution named as running the panel.
• Carly Urban and Olivia Valdez - researchers connected to the experiment.
• Smartphone Survey Penalty and Survey Mode Effects - concepts the panel was used to test.
• Financial Literacy Measurement - application area for the experiment.