The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the subject burden and risks to privacy associated with participating in research studies that involve wearing mobile sensors in daily life. Collecting data from these sensors involve burden (of wearing the sensors in the natural environment) and pose risk to privacy in sharing data collected by these sensors.
A quantification of burden and privacy risks together with an understanding of their scientific utility can inform the selection of appropriate sensors in future scientific studies that minimizes both the subject burden and privacy risks to accomplish the scientific objectives of the user study. We propose to quantify the subject burden and privacy risk of a variety of prevalent wearable sensors via determining the minimum compensation participants ask for for a variety of conditions (i.e., wearing sensors but not sharing data, wearing sensors and sharing data, wearing sensors and sharing data but after visually seeing what the collected data reveals about their behaviors and activities, and repeating the entire process as new types of sensors are added to the suite they wear).
Secondary goal is to better understand couples’ conversational behaviors in laboratory versus natural settings, and also how conversational behaviors may be modeled by respiratory behaviors alone, i.e. without simultaneous audio recordings. There will be two “branches” to this study. One branch will focus on individuals and the other on romantic couples. The romantic couples will also participate in laboratory sessions with no privacy controls other than those provided by informed consent.
Data Collection Equipment and Tools: Field Settings
AutoSense: Participants will wear AutoSense - a body-area, wireless sensor network that continuously measures several physiological signals. AutoSense consists of two unobtrusive, flexible bands worn about the chest and wrist, respectively. Several sensors are embedded in the bands, providing the following physiological and activity signals from the wearer: ECG, 3-axis acceleration, temperature (ambient), respiration, and galvanic skin response.
Audio Device: Participants will be asked to capture audio data. The device capturing audio data will need to be worn around their neck using a strap like necklace. From this audio, lab personnel will capture the timing of the beginning and end of each conversation they may have with their partner/roommates.
Wrist Band / Smart Watch: Participants will wear a wristband that includes a three-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer. The accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer will be sampled at 10 Hz at each axis to capture fine-level wrist motion, helping us to detect physical activity.
Mobile Phone: During the field study, participants will also carry a mobile phone customized to communicate with the AutoSense sensor suite. The mobile phone has three roles. First, it will use signals captured by AutoSense, the wrist band sensors, and sensors on the phone (phone signals: 3-axis acceleration, 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis compass, names of nearby Bluetooth and WiFi devices, GPS traces, battery levels, and user interaction) to infer whether the participant is carrying the phone with them, physical activity level, posture, and their current location, visited places, commuting episodes, etc. Second, participants will use the phone to complete optional questionnaires in the field (see Field Questionnaire section below). Third, participants will use the button on an interface designed for the phone to stop data sharing. They can select the type of data (audio,location,activity,physiology) for which they want to stop the sharing process, and lose money for buying privacy for a specific amount of time. They will push the button to stop their data sharing for certain duration of time (e.g., 30 minutes at the beginning which can be extended later on). We also provide an interface on the phone to visualize real-time data on the screen.