Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices

Daniel Harrison; Paul Marshall; Nadia Berthouze; Jon Bird

doi:10.1145/2638728.2641320

Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices

Daniel Harrison^*
, Paul Marshall
, Nadia Berthouze
, Jon Bird

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The problems with inactive and sedentary lifestyles are widely recognised. People believe that activity tracking systems, such as the Fitbit, may aid them in meeting recommended levels of physical activity. Similar systems have been the subject of previous research, but many of these studies were conducted over a short-term and some results may be attributable to reactivity or novelty effects. We ran a longitudinal mixed-methods effectiveness study using the Fitbit Zip activity tracker with 50 participants. In this paper we present two main challenges experienced during this study: the unreliability of the device and a lack of engagement by some of the participants. The issues we experienced can help inform the design of future studies.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	UbiComp 2014 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	699-702
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450330473
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2638728.2641320
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2014
Event	2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2014 - Seattle, United States Duration: 13 Sept 2014 → 17 Sept 2014

Conference

Conference	2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2014
Country/Territory	United States
City	Seattle
Period	13/09/14 → 17/09/14

Research Groups and Themes

Bristol Interaction Group

Keywords

Activity tracker
Behaviour change
Fitbit
Fitness
Health
In the wild
Pedometer
Personal device
Physical activity
Quantified self

Access to Document

10.1145/2638728.2641320

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Harrison, D., Marshall, P., Berthouze, N., & Bird, J. (2014). Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices. In UbiComp 2014 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (pp. 699-702). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2638728.2641320

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title = "Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices",

abstract = "The problems with inactive and sedentary lifestyles are widely recognised. People believe that activity tracking systems, such as the Fitbit, may aid them in meeting recommended levels of physical activity. Similar systems have been the subject of previous research, but many of these studies were conducted over a short-term and some results may be attributable to reactivity or novelty effects. We ran a longitudinal mixed-methods effectiveness study using the Fitbit Zip activity tracker with 50 participants. In this paper we present two main challenges experienced during this study: the unreliability of the device and a lack of engagement by some of the participants. The issues we experienced can help inform the design of future studies.",

keywords = "Activity tracker, Behaviour change, Fitbit, Fitness, Health, In the wild, Pedometer, Personal device, Physical activity, Quantified self",

author = "Daniel Harrison and Paul Marshall and Nadia Berthouze and Jon Bird",

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doi = "10.1145/2638728.2641320",

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publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2014 ; Conference date: 13-09-2014 Through 17-09-2014",

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Harrison, D, Marshall, P, Berthouze, N & Bird, J 2014, Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices. in UbiComp 2014 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 699-702, 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2014, Seattle, United States, 13/09/14. https://doi.org/10.1145/2638728.2641320

Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices. / Harrison, Daniel; Marshall, Paul; Berthouze, Nadia et al.
UbiComp 2014 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. Association for Computing Machinery, 2014. p. 699-702.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Tracking physical activity

T2 - 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2014

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AU - Berthouze, Nadia

AU - Bird, Jon

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AB - The problems with inactive and sedentary lifestyles are widely recognised. People believe that activity tracking systems, such as the Fitbit, may aid them in meeting recommended levels of physical activity. Similar systems have been the subject of previous research, but many of these studies were conducted over a short-term and some results may be attributable to reactivity or novelty effects. We ran a longitudinal mixed-methods effectiveness study using the Fitbit Zip activity tracker with 50 participants. In this paper we present two main challenges experienced during this study: the unreliability of the device and a lack of engagement by some of the participants. The issues we experienced can help inform the design of future studies.

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KW - Behaviour change

KW - Fitbit

KW - Fitness

KW - Health

KW - In the wild

KW - Pedometer

KW - Personal device

KW - Physical activity

KW - Quantified self

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M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

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PB - Association for Computing Machinery

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ER -

Tracking physical activity: Problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices

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Keywords

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