On the Challenges of Developing a Concise Questionnaire to Identify Privacy Personas

Abstract

Concise instruments to determine privacy personas – typical privacy-related user groups – are not available at present. Consequently, we aimed to identify them on a privacy knowledge–privacy behavior ratio based on a self-developed instrument. To achieve this, we conducted an item analysis (N = 820) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N = 656) of data based on an online study with German participants. Starting with 81 items, we reduced those to an eleven-item questionnaire with the two scales privacy knowledge and privacy behavior. A subsequent cluster analysis (N = 656) revealed three distinct user groups: (1) Fundamentalists scoring high in privacy knowledge and behavior, (2) Pragmatists scoring average in privacy knowledge and behavior and (3) Unconcerned scoring low in privacy knowledge and behavior. In a closer inspection of the questionnaire, the CFAs supported the model with a close global fit based on RMSEA in a training and to a lesser extent in a cross-validation sample. Deficient local fit as well as validity and reliability coefficients well below generally accepted thresholds, however, revealed that the questionnaire in its current form cannot be considered a suitable measurement instrument for determining privacy personas. The results are discussed in terms of related persona conceptualizations, the importance of a methodologically sound investigation of corresponding privacy dimensions and our lessons learned.