ABSTRACT

With the increasing importance of online information environments, researchers have started investigating direct measures of online media use, such as online tracking. Most existing studies using tracking data have so far relied on commercial solutions, but these have limitations in terms of their costliness, replicability, and applicability to certain research questions. Hence, different research groups are developing their own tracking solutions for academic purposes. In this paper, we provide a critical review and classification of the existing approaches, apt to guide research decisions on the appropriate tracking approach and tool. First, we develop criteria to distinguish different user-centric desktop and mobile tracking approaches and tools (types of information, technical complexity, privacy implementation, user experience, and availability). Second, we describe different tools and approaches – separately for desktop and mobile tracking – with concrete examples and evaluate them using the aforementioned criteria. Finally, we discuss how different mobile and desktop tracking solutions can complement each other and provide recommendations for future research.

摘要

随着在线信息环境的重要性日益增加，研究人员已经开始研究在线媒体使用的直接衡量标准，例如在线跟踪。迄今为止，大多数使用跟踪数据的现有研究都依赖于商业解决方案，但在成本、可复制性和对某些研究问题的适用性方面存在局限性。因此，不同的研究小组正在为学术目的开发自己的跟踪解决方案。在本文中，我们对现有方法进行了批判性审查和分类，旨在指导有关适当跟踪方法和工具的研究决策。首先，我们制定标准来区分不同的以用户为中心的桌面和移动跟踪方法和工具（信息类型、技术复杂性、隐私实施、用户体验、和可用性）。其次，我们用具体的例子描述了不同的工具和方法——分别用于桌面和移动跟踪——并使用上述标准对其进行评估。最后，我们讨论了不同的移动和桌面跟踪解决方案如何相互补充，并为未来的研究提供建议。