Question: No changes recommended.
Response format: We generally recommend using a closed response format as in question 3b, also in CATI mode. This makes it easier for respondents to answer the question and clarifies which services are to be included under "social media." In this way, un-derreporting of social media use can be prevented.
The questions 3a and 3b capture which social media the respondents use. As surveys are also conducted in CATI mode within the framework of the GLES, the pretest was intended to investigate whether an open-ended question (question 3a) differs from a closed questions (question 3b), that is, whether, for example, certain social media are not considered in an open-ended question. For this purpose, respondents were first presented with the question in an open-ended response format and then in a closed format.
1. Which services are included under the category "social media" in the open-ended question? Are services such as WhatsApp and YouTube also included?
The spontaneously most frequently mentioned social media used by the test persons were Facebook (n = 7), WhatsApp (n = 5), Instagram (n = 4), Twitter (n = 3) and YouTube (n = 3). Thus, at least some of the persons understood social media to include WhatsApp and YouTube. However, five test persons (TP 03, 04, 05, 06, 10) stated that they had spontaneously not considered at least one of the services, although they used it:
Subject 09 left question 3a unanswered, pointing out that the question had to be asked in a closed-response format because it was otherwise unanswerable for her (without considerable time investment):
"Oh my goodness! Dear people, you don't do such a question with an open text field. Honest-ly, which mediocre person is now able to firstly name it, secondly write it correctly and thirdly list it completely? There must be a click-list of the 30 best-known social networks, but don't write it in. That's not going to work, I'd need half an hour. I'll put it this way, I use all of them. I recently discovered that I have accounts on 83 social networks, including StudiVZ and SchülerVZ. There's a 'We love Social Media'. I've actually registered everything there is. That's what I do for a living. I need to know how things work. [...] I wouldn't answer anything here because I don't feel like writing in." (TP 09)
2. Is a social medium mentioned in question 3b that was not considered in question 3a?
The vast majority of test persons (n = 8) mentioned at least one social medium in question 3b that had not been previously reported in question 3a. The media most frequently not considered in the open-ended question 3a were WhatsApp (n = 4), YouTube (n = 2), and TikTok (n = 2). Test person 09, who had not answered question 3a, stated in question 3b that he used all listed social media with the exception of Threema.
When asked, all ten persons indicated that they preferred question version 3b because the given an-swer options would clarify what was meant by "social media":
3. Is it clear what is meant by social media?
The test persons had a very homogeneous understanding of the term and understood it to mean services that enable people to exchange information with other people via the Internet:
As already clarified above, some test persons did not count messenger services such as WhatsApp or video platforms such as YouTube as social media in the open-ended question:
In addition, two respondents also mentioned services that do not belong to classic social media (TP 01: Netflix, TP 02: Spotify).
The question whether another term, such as "social networks" would be preferred, was answered in the affirmative by three test persons (TP 01, 08, 10). These argued that the term would make it clearer that the services focus on networking and mutual exchange:
The remaining seven test persons, on the other hand, preferred the term "social media" or found both equally suitable:
