Citation

Horswill MS, Coster ME. Behav. Res. Methods Instrum. Comput. 2001; 33(1): 46-58.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Reading, P.O. Box 238, Reading RG6 6AL, England. m.s.horswill@reading.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Psychonomic Society)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11296719

Abstract

The Internet has been exploited successfully in the past as a medium for behavioral research. This paper presents a series of studies designed to assess Internet-based measures of drivers' risk-taking behavior. First, we compared responses from an Internet sample with a traditional pencil-and-paper sample using established questionnaire measures of risk taking. No significant differences were found. Second, we assessed the validity of new Internet-based instruments, involving photographs and photographic animations, that measured speed, gap acceptance, and passing. Responses were found to reflect known demographic patterns of actual behavior to some degree. Also, a roadside survey of speeds was carried out at the locations depicted in the photographic measure of speeding and, with certain exceptions, differences between the two appeared to be constant. Third, a between-subject experimental manipulation involving the photographic animation measure of gap acceptance was used to demonstrate one application of these techniques.

Language: en