simonmunzert / covid19-app-experiment

Replication materials for: Tracking and Promoting Usage of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

Replication materials for: Tracking and Promoting Usage of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

Abstract

Digital contact tracing apps have been introduced globally as an instrument to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, privacy by design impedes both the evaluation of these tools and the deployment of evidence-based interventions to stimulate uptake. We combine an online panel survey with mobile tracking data to measure the actual usage of Germany's official contact tracing app and reveal increased uptake rates among vulnerable groups, but lower rates among those with frequent social contact. Using a randomized intervention, we show that informative and motivational video messages have very limited effect on uptake. However, findings from a second intervention suggest that even small monetary incentives can strongly increase uptake and help make digital contact tracing a more effective tool.

Preprint

Available at https://osf.io/85zhj

Corresponding author information

Simon Munzert

Hertie School

Friedrichstrasse 180

10117 Berlin

[email protected]