Which is your favorite music genre? A validity comparison of Facebook data and survey data

Abstract

In this study, we use a parallel mixed-method data collection: a face-to-face survey combined with personal Facebook data archive collection. Our paper is the first attempt to cross-validate the self-reported musical preference with Facebook-based music preference classification. We primarily focused on operationalization-related questions and validity issues. The results overall showed that the different measures have only moderate correlations with each other. Some genres measured similarly, but there were significant differences too. A good example of the latter is world-music. It was the second most preferred genre of the survey, but based on FB data it was at the lower end of the preference scale. Digital data opens the possibility of examining topics we could not investigate, and re-examining topics with new approaches. However, all the data sources have their validity problems, and we need to consider many factors before we select a data source for analysis.