PaCo - Mechanisms of panel conditioning in longitudinal surveys: Questions on social desirability, gender roles, and environment (English Version)

How often have you used the Internet in the last 14 days to find out about political events?

[Wie häufig haben Sie in den letzten 14 Tagen das Internet genutzt, um sich über das politische Geschehen zu informieren?]

1 Never [Nie]
2
3
4
5
6
7 Very often [Sehr oft]
Don't know [Weiß nicht]

Question: No changes recommended.
Response format: No changes recommended.

Cognitive Techniques:

None

The vast majority of the test persons (n = 8) stated that they had used the Internet very frequently (scale point 7) in the last 14 days to find out about political events. Test person 08 placed himself one scale point lower (scale point 6) and only one test person (TP 04) placed himself in the middle of the scale (scale point 4) but left this uncommented.

Four of the test persons who stated "very often" (TP 03, 06, 08, 10) justified their answer by saying that they would inform themselves more frequently about political events because of the current Corona pandemic. Test persons 06 and 08 mentioned that they would have selected a lower scale value at a different time:

• "This is a funny question in the current situation.” (TP 03)
• "Well, very often in the last 14 days. Of course, that's also due to the whole Corona thing, because I want to keep up to date with the political decisions. [...] Normally, I would have rather taken 6.” (TP 06)
• "I only stated that now because of Corona. Normally I am not interested in politics at all.” (TP 08)
• "I use the Internet at home in these times especially.” (TP 10)

Digitalization/ Use of digital systems

Internet use for obtaining information