Survey and Data:
The data used in this visualization were part of a larger survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with funding from The Associated Press (AP) and NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC). The results of that survey can be found here.
Note that for all ages, we estimated that the median level of usage for each of Twitter, WhatsApp, and Reddit respectively was “Never” based on the survey responses. Quantile regression was used to estimate the median level of social media usage at different ages.
Data were collected using the Amerispeak Omnibus, a monthly multi-client survey using NORC’s probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. household population. Interviews for the survey were conducted between April 11 and 16, 2018, with adults age 18 and over, representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey was completed by 1,140 adults via web or telephone interviews. Each respondent record was assigned a base, nonresponse-adjusted sampling weight, and post-stratification weights were derived using external population totals associated with age, gender, Census division, race/ethnicity, and education from the 2017 Current Population Survey.
Analytical Method:
A generalized linear model was used to predict social media age using the combinations of social media usage observed in the survey data.
Programming:
Data were processed and analyzed using R (R Core Team 2018) and the R survey package (Lumley 2017). This interactive tool was created in JavaScript using the D3 library (Bostock et al. 2011).
Funding:
The survey was conducted by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with funding from AP and NORC. The Social Media Age Tool was developed and funded by the NORC Data Visualization Committee.
Acknowledgements:
- Emily Alvarez
- Lindsay Arends
- Jennifer Benz
- William Bonnell
- Nola du Toit
- Holly Hagerty
- Peter Herman
- Greg Lanier
- Mu-Hsien Hsieh Lee of MUHSIEN INC.
- Edward Mulrow
- Zachary Seeskin
- Chris Sousa-Nieves
- Trevor Tompson
Citations
