Supporters like to point out that PPM is better because it uses a passive method of measurement. Using the word passive conveys the impression that participants are somehow uninvolved in the process, but participants are far from passive when it comes to PPM.
First, a participant has to remember to carry their meter. Leave the meter at home and there is no measurement, and the participant earns no credits. Do that too many times and the participant could be de-installed (fired).
The participant has to keep the meter in motion. Let it stay motionless for half an hour and no measurement, and the participant earns no credits.
The participant has to dock the meter each night and un-dock the meter each morning. Forget to dock the meter for a couple of days and the meter runs down and no data is sent to Arbitron.
All these activities intrude into a family’s life. To remain a panel family, the family’s routine has to be altered. To maximize the rewards that come with being a panel family, everyone has to become a conscientious panelist, making sure the meter is undocked, active at least eight hours, and then docked every single day, day after day, month after month.
That doesn’t sound very passive.
Let’s compare the diary process. One accepts a diary, fills it out, and then mails it back. Yes, there is the issue of whether people fill out diaries contemporaneously with their listening, or fill it out at the end of the week. However, regardless of when they fill out the diary, the process intrudes far less into a person’s life.
Of course PPM supporters are using the word passive in a much more narrow way. They mean that people don’t report their listening as in a diary. The meter records the listening without the panelist realizing it. But the trade-off is the constant attention the meter requires.
So PPM is passive but intrusive. Diaries are un-intrusive but active.
Which is better? As we have pointed out, the more difficult the task, the less cooperative people are. The longer the task lasts, the less cooperative people are. And research has shown that the greater the cooperation, the greater the recorded listening.
So on balance we are more likely to see higher listening levels with less intrusive measures. A four week diary shows less TSL than a one week diary. PPM shows less listening than either one.
There is another aspect of intrusiveness that we have to consider. Take a close look at the pictures to the left. Click on each to enlarge. They are from a Norwegian presentation on PPM. It shows participants wearing their meters. The first thing to note is that the meter is very visible. It is being worn as if a fashion statement, in pouches or on lanyards. Only the businessman is wearing it as one would a beeper. As we have pointed out, the meter must hear the station to ID it. If the meter is buried under layers of clothes or in a purse, it can’t hear the station. So the tests that have been done have had panelists wear the meter visibly. So add to all the other tasks a panelist has to worry about, the need to keep it visible. How intrusive do you think that is? So here is our question to Arbitron:
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