Below, we develop several new items for need for privacy. To validate items, we follow the procedure implemented by Patalay, Hayes, and Wolpert (2018) and calculate the following four reading scores: Flesch–Kincaid reading grade (FK), Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Coleman Liau Index (CLI), and the Powers-Sumner-Kearl Variation of the Dale and Chall Readability formula (DC).

Personality

To have a benchmark, we calculated the readability of the HEXACO items. It was as follows:

##   document Flesch.Kincaid  FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1   HEXACO           6.63 8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability was good. The results means that, on average, understanding the items requires seven years of schooling.

Privacy

Horizontal

Psychological

Frener, Wagner, and Trepte (2021)

  1. I don’t like to talk about personal issues with others unless they do it first.
  2. There are a lot of things about me that I don’t like to talk about with others.
  3. I prefer not to share my feelings and inner thoughts with others.
  4. I do not like it when others talk to me about their private issues. (new)
##   document Flesch.Kincaid  FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           6.78 8.67               7.31           6.47    7.31
## 2    text2           4.92 6.80               3.90           4.96    5.15
## 3    text3           4.82 4.80               7.70           6.87    6.05
## 4    text4           5.04 5.60               4.35           5.75    5.18
## 5   HEXACO           6.63 8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability looks good!

Physical

Frener, Wagner, and Trepte (2021)

  1. I don’t like it when strangers come too close to me.
  2. I don’t like to stand in a dense crowd of people.
  3. I don’t like to sit next to a stranger on a tram, bus, or plane.
  4. I hate it when people enter my personal space uninvited. (new)
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           1.57  4.40              3.425           4.97    3.59
## 2    text2           1.57  4.40              1.822           6.02    3.45
## 3    text3           2.85  6.00              0.651           5.70    3.80
## 4    text4           8.37 12.00              8.288           6.17    8.71
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72              6.928           5.65    6.98

Looks good. (Item 4 not perfect, but it should still work.)

Social Privacy

Dienlin and Metzger (2019)

  1. I don’t feel comfortable interacting with other people. (Harrison 1993)
  2. I often want to be alone. (new)
  3. I’m a fairly anti-social person. (new)
  4. I prefer to work independently in most situations. (new)
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           9.09 13.90               8.07           7.83    9.72
## 2    text2           1.87  4.80               2.31           4.94    3.48
## 3    text3           5.86  8.04               4.49           4.97    5.84
## 4    text4           3.65  4.00               4.17           6.17    4.50
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability looks good. (Item 1 not perfect, but should still work and was already validated.)

Vertical

Privacy from Government

Dienlin and Metzger (2019)

  • I need government agencies to respect my privacy, even if that hinders a greater societal cause, such as catching criminals.
  • I don’t want the government to gather information about me, even if that makes it more difficult for them to spend tax income efficiently.
  • I don’t want government agencies to monitor my personal communication, even if doing so prevents future terrorist attacks.
  • I feel I need to protect my privacy from government agencies.
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1          13.45 18.00              12.71           7.92   13.02
## 2    text2          12.45 16.27              10.65           6.62   11.50
## 3    text3          15.69 20.53              16.20           9.47   15.47
## 4    text4           8.01 15.31               8.24           6.02    9.39
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Items 1, 2 and 3 show rather high scores. Try to formulate easier.

New items:

  1. I need government agencies to respect my privacy, even if that makes catching criminals harder.
  2. I don’t want the government to gather data about me, even if that makes it harder to spend tax income effectively.
  3. I don’t want government agencies to monitor my communication, even if that stops terrorist attacks.
  4. I feel I need to protect my privacy from government agencies.
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1          11.50 16.67              13.19           7.24   12.15
## 2    text2          10.58 12.21               8.55           6.17    9.38
## 3    text3          13.07 19.33              14.76           8.01   13.80
## 4    text4           8.01 15.31               8.24           6.02    9.39
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

A bit better, but not much. But scale worked pretty well in original study, so should be okay.

Privacy from Companies

New, self-designed.

  1. I’m willing to pay more for products or services so that companies don’t have to sell my data.
  2. I’m happy to give up a little bit of privacy, so that I can use certain apps or services for free.
  3. I don’t want companies to gather information about me, even if that reduces the quality of their services.
  4. I feel I need to protect my privacy from companies.
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           7.82 11.64               7.38           6.91    8.44
## 2    text2           8.33 12.21               4.07           6.17    7.70
## 3    text3          12.41 18.31              10.98           6.91   12.15
## 4    text4           6.01 12.00               5.35           5.02    7.09
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Items 3 seems to be a bit too difficult. Try to make easier.

  1. I’m willing to pay more for products or services so that companies don’t have to sell my data.
  2. I’m happy to give up a little bit of privacy so that I can use certain apps or services for free.
  3. I don’t want companies to collect data about me, even if that makes their services worse.
  4. I feel I need to protect my privacy from companies.
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           7.82 11.64               7.38           6.91    8.44
## 2    text2           8.33 12.21               4.07           6.17    7.70
## 3    text3           8.35 11.40               8.81           6.39    8.74
## 4    text4           6.01 12.00               5.35           5.02    7.09
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability now much better.

General

Informational

Frener, Wagner, and Trepte (2021)

  1. I would prefer that little is known about me.
  2. I don’t want my personal data to be publicly accessible.
  3. It is important to me that records pertaining to me remain confidential. (Harrison 1993)
  4. I prefer that others cannot easily find information about me on the Internet. (new)
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           3.65  3.60               4.43           5.09    4.19
## 2    text2           9.55 16.00               8.29           8.48   10.58
## 3    text3           9.74 14.80              11.13           5.91   10.40
## 4    text4          11.26 14.43              10.87           6.71   10.82
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability looks good.

Privacy need anonymity

Dienlin and Metzger (2019)

  1. I would prefer to use a fake account on social network sites to preserve my privacy.
  2. I feel I need to avoid places with video surveillance.
  3. I prefer not to carry my driver’s license or ID with me all the time to preserve my privacy.
  4. I need to be able to surf the Internet anonymously. (new)
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1           7.61  8.90               7.34           8.55    8.10
## 2    text2           7.19 12.00               7.11           7.33    8.41
## 3    text3           7.97  9.71               4.92           7.44    7.51
## 4    text4           8.37 12.00               5.35           7.33    8.26
## 5   HEXACO           6.63  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability looks good.

General Need for privacy

New, self-designed.

  1. I need a lot of privacy.
  2. Privacy is very important to me.
  3. I think a lot about how I can protect my privacy.
  4. I value privacy a lot.
##   document Flesch.Kincaid   FOG Coleman.Liau.short Dale.Chall.PSK average
## 1    text1          2.483  9.07              -3.09           5.55    3.50
## 2    text2          8.383 15.73               4.75           5.55    8.60
## 3    text3          4.791  8.04               1.82           4.97    4.91
## 4    text4          0.805  3.20              -1.86           3.74    1.47
## 5   HEXACO          6.629  8.72               6.93           5.65    6.98

Readability was good.

Dienlin, Tobias, and Miriam J. Metzger. 2019. “Who Needs Privacy?” Preprint. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/m23bn.
Frener, Regine, Jana Wagner, and Sabine Trepte. 2021. “Development and Validation of the Need for Privacy Scale (NFP-S).” In. 71st annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Denver, CO, digital conference.
Harrison, Claire L. 1993. “The Development of a Desire for Privacy Scale.” ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. PhD thesis, Ann Arbor: University of Connecticut. https://uaccess.univie.ac.at/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/development-desire-privacy-scale/docview/304030735/se-2?accountid=14682.
Patalay, Praveetha, Daniel Hayes, and Miranda Wolpert. 2018. “Assessing the Readability of the Self-Reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.” BJPsych Open 4 (2): 55–57. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2017.13.