About the questionnaireDuring the data collection, i.e. while the SMS of the main corpus were collected, the informants were also asked to fill in a questionnaire, responding to questions about their personal data such as age, sex etc., but also about their use of mobile phones and the new media. The same questions were asked in the second call.Data PrivacyThe information thus collected is linked to the SMS sent by the respective informants, however, there is no way of knowing who this person is since no names, phone numbers or other personal information was collected and the individual SMS got stripped off any personal information.ParticipationThe questionnaire was available to the participants throughout the collections. It was thus possible to send the information in more than once. In cases where we received more than one questionnaire for one person, we only considered the last one, assuming that people wanted to correct the information provided. The same procedure was applied for people who participated in the first and the second collection. In this case, the information from the second collection was considered. It is thus possible that somebody was a student during the first collection but now figures as a professional, because he graduated in the meantime.Original questionnaires (as PDF)The questionnaires were available in four languages ( German, French, Italian, Romansh). Additionally to what you see in the questionnaires presented here, there was a header with our logo as well as a "send"-button. Please keep in mind that what you see for Italian and Romansh is the questionnaire used for the second collection.Questions askedGeneral informationSex is given as F (female), M (male) or n/a (not answered) Age The age is given as a number for the age of the person at the moment they filled in the form. Mother tongue(s) The mother tongue(s) as they were given. More than one option possible. It was possible to list other languages than the ones offered as a selection (Standard German, French, Italian, Romansh and Swissgerman Dialect). If the informants typed in other languges, they get listed in the person data but not in the Frequency Distribution. Other languages spoken Other languages spoken at home and in public. For both fields, more than one options are possible. It was possible to list other languages than the ones offered as a selection (Standard German, French, Italian, Romansh and Swissgerman Dialect). If the informants typed in other languges, they get listed in the person data but not in the Frequency Distribution. Original questions:
SMS usageSMS Use in years The informant was asked, for how many years he has been using SMS. A selection was presented:
E-mail, chat, forum useThe informant was asked whether he uses any of these media communication forms: email, chat, forum. Possible answers were:
Reading and writing habitsWeekly reading time in hours The informant was asked how many hours he spends reading per day in his spare time as well as professionally, excluding SMS and Email. The result is a cardinal number describing the hours. Kind of Reading The informant was asked which texttypes he reads. Possible answers:
Switching and mixing languagesSwitching languages depending on recipient The informant was asked whether he switches languages depending of the recipient. Possible answers were yes or no Manner of switching If the informant switches languages, he was asked to describe the way in which he switches. Since this is free text, the answers can be seen in the person data, but cannot be evaluated in the Frequency Distribution. Mixing Languages in an SMS The informant was asked whether he mixes languages when writing SMS. Possible answers were yes or no. Languages mixed If the informant answered yes to the question above, he was asked which languages he mixes. The following answers were possible:
Second collectionThe second collection took place nearly two years after the first one and was set up for the special needs of research in Italian and Romansh. Accordingly, the questionnaire was adjusted slightly to adjust to the needs of this user group but also to cover the quick technical development. The following was changed: For all questions concerning languages (e.g. mothertongue), the option Italian dialect ("dialetto della Svizzera italiana") was added. An additional profession was included: farming or forestry ("agricoltura e foreste") An additional question about mobile phone use was added: do you use a smartphone? ("Si serve di uno smartphone (iPhone o simili)?"). Possible answers were yes and no, but it was also possible to leave the question empty. When working with the corpus, it is imperative to realize that these questions were only asked during the second collection. Thus, the percentage of people, who consider the Italian dialect as their mother tongue, cannot be calculated by setting the total number of participants as 100%. Instead, the number of participants of the second collection has to be taken as 100%. The same goes for smarphones etc. |
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