Data collection explicitness as a micro-suasor: Its effect on sensitivity judgment and safety decisions

It has been found that transparency implemented in the name of the users' safety can instead encourage the users to trust the system and to disclose their personal data. In this work we consider whether the transparency of the data collection technique can work in this way. The study (N = 40) compares an explicit technique (questionnaires) with an implicit one (eye-tracker). The actual sensitivity of the data collected was also varied, sensitive (popularity) vs. non- sensitive (usability).The results suggest that, when judging general data sensitivity, the transparency of the data collection procedure tends to work as a heuristic; this is not the case when more specific judgments or decisions are asked.