Investigating Heterogeneity in (Social) Media Effects: Experience-Based Recommendations

Abstract

We recently introduced a new, unified approach to investigate the effects of social media use on well-being. Using experience sampling methods among sizeable samples of respondents, our unified approach combines the strengths of nomothetic methods of analysis (e.g., mean comparisons, regression models), which are suited to understand group averages and generalize to populations, with idiographic methods of analysis (e.g., N=1 time series analyses), which are suitable to assess the effects of social media use on each single person (i.e., person-specific effects). Our approach challenges existing knowledge of media effects based on the nomothetic-only approach. As with many innovations, our approach has raised questions. In this article, we discuss our experience with our unified media effects approach that we have been building since 2018. We will explain what our approach exactly entails and what it requires. For example, how many observations are needed per person? Which methods did we employ to assess the meaningfulness of variation around average effects? How can we generalize our findings to our target populations? And how can our person-specific results aid policy decisions? Finally, we hope to answer questions of colleagues who are interested in replicating, extending, or building on our work.