The first study of the World Internet Project, among other things, refutes the stereotype of the loner geek:
"Use of the Internet is reducing television viewing around the world while having little impact on positive aspects of social life," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, the California university that organized the project.
The data in question is a few years old and its surprising to see it being reported as something completely new. What is more infuriating though, is the careless language of the article, suggestive of causal links between Internet use and social outcomes. The article mentions two things - this data is cross-sectional and the analyses are insensitive as they consider Internet use as binary (simple presence or absence of use, which ignore the increasing variance of both frequency and breadth of Internet use in the population). Neither of these two aspects of the study give it ANY BASIS AT ALL for causal claims. Yet, Jeffrey Cole is quoted saying that "Internet use is reducing television viewing" which is a casual claim.
It is appalling to see such careless language use especially in mass media where most readers would not have the statistical and methodological background to note that this claim is problematic. Cross-sectional studies can produce associations at best, suggesting there might be some relationship between the variables. These studies, however, compare inherently different populations, which must be taken into account. Otherwise, these conclusions are completely misleading.
1. Liz Lawley on January 14, 2004 3:33 PM writes...
I saw this news item, too, but can't find any sign of the actual *study*, either on the World Internet Project site, or on the UCLA site.
Permalink to Comment2. Ross Mayfield on January 14, 2004 11:01 PM writes...
Links to the press release and powerpoint, can't find the report either.
http://susanmernit.blogspot.com/archives/2004_01_01_susanmernit_archive.html#107413137893469568
Permalink to Comment3. Kiran Jonnalagadda on January 15, 2004 3:09 AM writes...
The study report is on the site now. http://ccp.ucla.edu/pdf/UCLA-Internet-Report-Year-Three.pdf
Permalink to Comment4. David Brake on January 15, 2004 6:42 AM writes...
Don't get too excited - that PDF is for the previous year's report (though that is also interesting).
Permalink to Comment5. Irina on January 15, 2004 11:48 PM writes...
The data in question is a few years old and its surprising to see it being reported as something completely new. What is more infuriating though, is the careless language of the article, suggestive of causal links between Internet use and social outcomes. The article mentions two things - this data is cross-sectional and the analyses are insensitive as they consider Internet use as binary (simple presence or absence of use, which ignore the increasing variance of both frequency and breadth of Internet use in the population). Neither of these two aspects of the study give it ANY BASIS AT ALL for causal claims. Yet, Jeffrey Cole is quoted saying that "Internet use is reducing television viewing" which is a casual claim.
It is appalling to see such careless language use especially in mass media where most readers would not have the statistical and methodological background to note that this claim is problematic. Cross-sectional studies can produce associations at best, suggesting there might be some relationship between the variables. These studies, however, compare inherently different populations, which must be taken into account. Otherwise, these conclusions are completely misleading.
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