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Methodological strategies to understand smartphone practices for social connectedness in later life

Fernández-Ardèvol, Mireia ; Rosales, Andrea ; Loos, Eugène ; Peine, Alexander ; Beneito-Montagut, Roser ; Blanche, Daniel ; Fischer, Björn LU orcid ; Katz, Stephen and Östlund, Britt LU (2019) 5th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2019, held as part of the 21st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International 2019 In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 11593 LNCS. p.46-64
Abstract

Digital practices in later life are not yet well understood. Therefore, this paper discusses the framework for a research design project that aims at tracing differences and similarities in how older adults use their smartphones in circumstances in and outside their homes in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada. The research questions of this international research project focus on the extent to which digital mobile practices relate to perceived social connectedness among older adults aged 55–79 years old. While studies have shown that the subjective experience of ‘being connected’ supports continued wellbeing in later life, there remains an insufficient understanding of the processes through which digital mediated social... (More)

Digital practices in later life are not yet well understood. Therefore, this paper discusses the framework for a research design project that aims at tracing differences and similarities in how older adults use their smartphones in circumstances in and outside their homes in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada. The research questions of this international research project focus on the extent to which digital mobile practices relate to perceived social connectedness among older adults aged 55–79 years old. While studies have shown that the subjective experience of ‘being connected’ supports continued wellbeing in later life, there remains an insufficient understanding of the processes through which digital mediated social interaction is effective for social connectedness. The analytical framework of the project prioritizes the co-constituency of (digital) technology and ageing, and takes digital practices in everyday life as its entry point. The main data collection tool will be the tracking of smartphone activity of 600 older adults (150 per country) during four weeks. An online survey and qualitative interviews will gather data about the meanings of the quantified digital practices, and how they shape (if they do) the participants’ connection to the world. This approach will allow us not only to get insight into what older adults say how they used their smartphone but also to gain insight into their real-life daily use. The assessment of the challenges, strengths, and weaknesses of the methods contributes towards an accurate and appropriate interpretation of empirical results and their implications.

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publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Digital practices, Interviews, Later life, Log data, Mixed methods, Older adults, Research design, Smartphones, Survey data, Tracking
host publication
Human aspects of IT for the aged population : social media, games and assistive environments - 5th International Conference, ITAP 2019, held as part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, proceedings part II - social media, games and assistive environments - 5th International Conference, ITAP 2019, held as part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, proceedings part II
series title
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
editor
Zhou, Jia and Salvendy, Gavriel
volume
11593 LNCS
pages
19 pages
publisher
Springer
conference name
5th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2019, held as part of the 21st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International 2019
conference location
Orlando, United States
conference dates
2019-07-26 - 2019-07-31
external identifiers
  • scopus:85069818967
ISSN
1611-3349
0302-9743
ISBN
978-3-030-22014-3
978-3-030-22015-0
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-22015-0_4
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Funding Information: The research project BConnect@Home (https://www.researchgate.net/ project/BCONNECTHOME-Making-use-of-digital-devices-in-later-life) is funded by the JTP 2017-JPI More Years, Better Lives (Grant Agreement 363850). The Netherlands: ZONMW (Project 9003037411); Spain: MINECO (ref. PCI-2017-080), FORTE (ref. 2017-02301); and Canada: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (201704MYB-386097). It also received partial funding from the Ageing + Communication + Technology project http://actproject.ca/ (ref. 895-2013-1018, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (ref: FJCI-2015-24120). Funding Information: Acknowledgments. The research project BConnect@Home (https://www.researchgate.net/ project/BCONNECTHOME-Making-use-of-digital-devices-in-later-life) is funded by the JTP 2017 - JPI More Years, Better Lives (Grant Agreement 363850). The Netherlands: ZONMW (Project 9003037411); Spain: MINECO (ref. PCI-2017-080), FORTE (ref. 2017-02301); and Canada: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (201704MYB-386097). It also received partial funding from the Ageing + Communication + Technology project http://actproject.ca/ (ref. 895-2013-1018, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (ref: FJCI-2015-24120).
id
83e1ee33-bfba-46c4-904d-35b6f4eae0e0
date added to LUP
2023-12-04 13:28:08
date last changed
2024-04-17 09:34:15
@inproceedings{83e1ee33-bfba-46c4-904d-35b6f4eae0e0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Digital practices in later life are not yet well understood. Therefore, this paper discusses the framework for a research design project that aims at tracing differences and similarities in how older adults use their smartphones in circumstances in and outside their homes in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada. The research questions of this international research project focus on the extent to which digital mobile practices relate to perceived social connectedness among older adults aged 55–79 years old. While studies have shown that the subjective experience of ‘being connected’ supports continued wellbeing in later life, there remains an insufficient understanding of the processes through which digital mediated social interaction is effective for social connectedness. The analytical framework of the project prioritizes the co-constituency of (digital) technology and ageing, and takes digital practices in everyday life as its entry point. The main data collection tool will be the tracking of smartphone activity of 600 older adults (150 per country) during four weeks. An online survey and qualitative interviews will gather data about the meanings of the quantified digital practices, and how they shape (if they do) the participants’ connection to the world. This approach will allow us not only to get insight into what older adults say how they used their smartphone but also to gain insight into their real-life daily use. The assessment of the challenges, strengths, and weaknesses of the methods contributes towards an accurate and appropriate interpretation of empirical results and their implications.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fernández-Ardèvol, Mireia and Rosales, Andrea and Loos, Eugène and Peine, Alexander and Beneito-Montagut, Roser and Blanche, Daniel and Fischer, Björn and Katz, Stephen and Östlund, Britt}},
  booktitle    = {{Human aspects of IT for the aged population : social media, games and assistive environments - 5th International Conference, ITAP 2019, held as part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, proceedings part II}},
  editor       = {{Zhou, Jia and Salvendy, Gavriel}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-030-22014-3}},
  issn         = {{1611-3349}},
  keywords     = {{Digital practices; Interviews; Later life; Log data; Mixed methods; Older adults; Research design; Smartphones; Survey data; Tracking}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{46--64}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}},
  title        = {{Methodological strategies to understand smartphone practices for social connectedness in later life}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22015-0_4}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-030-22015-0_4}},
  volume       = {{11593 LNCS}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}