“Better Than I Was Yesterday”: A Qualitative Analysis of Motivations to Self-Track

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Despite the growing body of literature involving self-tracking data, relatively little research has studied why people choose to self-track of their own volition. This paper presents results from a questionnaire of 1200 college students, focusing specifically on their motivations to self-track, which behaviors they would want to track, and why. Results show a high overall motivation to self-track that supports the self-improvement hypothesis— that is, students are predominantly motivated to self-track by self-insight, behavior change, or both. Furthermore, qualitative analysis reveals numerous complex and interrelated sub-motivations to self-track, including intraindividual comparison, goal attainment, and habit maintenance. These results contribute to an understanding of what motivates individuals to self-track, what they hope to achieve from self-tracking, and what behaviors they would most like to understand or change. As self-tracking studies provide rich, comprehensive data from which to measure and predict behavior, these findings thus illustrate promising future directions for researchers interested in how to best design such studies to yield optimal results.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 4, 2019

Author	Srinivasan, Leela
Primary advisor	Hancock, Jeff
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Department of Communication

Subject	Stanford University Department of Communication
Subject	digital media
Subject	self-tracking
Subject	motivation
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/vv918hc2263

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-ND).

Preferred Citation: Srinivasan, Leela. (2019). “Better Than I Was Yesterday”: A Qualitative Analysis of Motivations to Self-Track. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/vv918hc2263

Masters Theses in Media Studies, Department of Communication, Stanford University

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