Let’s Get Started
Here comes the first sentence. And a second one. I’m just typing something that I think would sound good. Does it? I actually have no idea where to start; my head seems kind of empty today. Now, thinking about it, What do I even want to write about? What was my topic again? Fuck, I forgot. How can this be? I have already written a whole proposal about it. Anyway, keep calm and start from the top. I am interested in privacy, specifically, how we can measure it. For starters, I want to know how we can know what privacy behavior really is and how we can measure it. The last sentence does not really make sense. Ok, let’s try to start again. How does self-reported online privacy behavior compare to self-reported privacy behavior? No, fucked it up again - you just wrote two times the same stuff. Let’s start differently. Why do I want to use data donation? Because it’s an awesome way to get to really good behavioral data. Self-reports cannot do the same. Self-reported privacy behavior falls prey to a multitude of biases, e.g., recall bias or desirability biases. People just don’t really know what they do online. Or at least they don’t remember that information when they are asked about it in a different setting - so when they are not online. On a different note, they do not even know what kind of content they consumed or pushed five minutes after scrolling, liking, and commenting for an hour and a half. Maybe some remember, but most probably do not. I at least don’t, and I hate this. In comes data donation to the rescue. Compared to other approaches, it actually allows me to see what people do online without having to rely on their self-reports. While I could also use some kind of tracking, data donation seems to be better suited for this kind of behavior as participants do not have to go through the hussle of installing an app or some browser plugin. And then they know that they are being tracked, which is not ideal. And still, especially if we are interested in (privacy) settings, trackers or even APIs for that matter cannot give us the needed information. But data donation can. And that’s why I want to use it.
[And at this point did I start to write a first draft of an introduction to my first PhD paper :)]
For Context - What is this?
I try to trick myself when I have to write something, but I do not feel like writing. This method works best for me. I just start typing anything that comes to mind. It does not necessarily concern the research question or the part I must write. I write. Eventually, I got to think more about the topic. Normally, after 20 minutes or more, I am writing and will start the work I must do. By that point, I will have already written some stuff; some might be relevant, some not.