1. iHabit ™ An experience sampling app to study first-year students
Tim Steenbergh, PhD, Professor of Psychology |
Brian Fry, PhD, Professor of Sociology |
Indiana Wesleyan University | Marion, IN 1

2. Acknowledgements Dr. Jason Runyan Dr. Doug Daugherty Dr. Lorne Oke
Dr. Don Sprowl
Necole Reno
Chuck Bainbridge
Ali Plutschack
Kate Denlinger
Nick Howard 2

3. Mobile Technology Context
According to a recent Educause report, mobile technology use by college-age students has increased from:
1.2% in 2005 to
62.7% in 2010
(Cited by Rossing in Liberal Education, 2012) 3

4. Why EMA? So what?
During a typical week, I spend ___ per week using .
Less than 1 hour
1 – 3 hours
4 – 6 hours
7 – 9 hours
10 – 12 hours
More than 12 hours

5. What is EMA?
Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocols collect data differently than experiments and retrospective self-reports. EMA data collection methods:
repeatedly collect data
on participants’ momentary (or current) states
in their natural or real-life settings (Stone et al. 2007).
Ecological: people answer questions in their natural environment
Momentary: people report on their current (momentary) behavior and experiences
Assessment: researchers are trying to measure something (like cigarette craving, time usage, or spiritual practices)

6. If it could be boiled down to a onesie…
And we
record it!

7. EMA can be…
event-based / user initiated (after run, cigarette craving)
interval-based (top of every hour)
randomly assessed (Again?!)

8. EMA: random assessment in a day

9. EMA: random assessment for a week

10. EMA contrast with retrospective survey
One-shot Questionnaire
EMA
In a typical week, what percentage of your time do you spend:
In the last 20 minutes, how much time have you spent:
In a typical day, how much time do you spend interacting with your professors face-to-face?
How much time did you spend today interacting with your professors face-to-face?
How satisfied are you with your marriage?
How do you feel about your relationship right now?
How satisfied are you with your current job?
How satisfied are you with your job right now?

11. Methods First Year Students (N=81) PRETEST (Week 2)
Self Efficacy | Social Support | Stress
Methods
No App Control (n=37)
RANDOM ASSIGNMENT
(n=44)
Weeks 3, 8 & 13
POSTTEST (Week 14)
Self Efficacy | Social Support | Stress
Life Satisfaction | App Ratings

12. iHabit™ Platform Specs
Runs on iPhone, iTouch or iPad
Free download from iTunes
Visual and/or audible alarms notify user of question
Check In questions can be randomized to gather a representative sample of responses
Branching allows researcher to drill down on relevant variables
End of Day feature works as electronic daily diary
Free Response allows user-initiated data input
Data is automatically stored on device, then uploaded to server when WiFi signal is available
Data is time-stamped

13. Don’t have the screen captures from the survey pack we used for first year study, but this gives an idea of the kinds of questions we can ask

16. Examples of iHabit™ Study Questions
Check in Questions
How many of the last 20 minutes have you…
End of Day Questions
spent working on academics?
What time did you go to bed last night?
spent socializing?
What time did you get up this morning?
spent playing sports/exercising?
How much time did you spend in direct interaction with faculty today?
spent praying or thinking of God?
How confident are you in your ability to succeed academically?
spent in recreational use of electronics (phone, computer, tv, etc)?
Overall, how confident are you in your academic ability?
wasted?
How much effort did you put into your academics today?
Methods

17. Results In the moment 17

18. Results: In the Moment

19. Results: In the Moment

20. Results End of day 20

21. Results: End of Day

22. Results: End of Day

23. Data collection Upside Downside
Easily integrated into daily life- especially for iPhone users
Data collection is automated
Allows both within- and between-subjects analysis
Can quickly produce overwhelming amounts of data
Analysis can be difficult- HLM and time series
Momentary data isn’t always a better predictor
User fatigue

24. The tendency to change our behavior when it’s measured
Reactivity:
The tendency to change our behavior when it’s measured
One of the things you may be wondering about: doesn’t measuring students behavior in the moment actually change it?
- Purchased a Suburban for my wife.
high gas prices, it really puts a dent in our family budget
I’m frugal, so I complain about her driving- heavy foot- on the gas and the brake
Tried complaining- didn’t go so well
I’ve started having the electronic dashboard display the trucks mileage.
There’s 2 modes: average- which reports the mileage for the whole trip and current- which provides second by second feedback of mileage. Guess what? When that’s on, she doesn’t start quite so fast, she doesn’t brake as hard, and she coasts a bit more.
In psychology, we call that measurement reactivity. It’s our tendency to change our behavior when it’s being measured. Sometimes we think that’s a bad thing. But in truth, it can be a wonderful ally.

25. Posttest Results

26. Posttest Results

27. Results Free response 27

28. Free Responses
Some students freely offered comments suggesting reactivity: These surveys make me feel a little guilty that I'm not working out enough or spending enough time with God. I admit that I am doing more of that stuff so I can answer better on the next survey. Even after one day, I'm realizing I need to spend WAY more time alone with God.

29. Evidence for Measurement Reactivity
Research Summary
Our limited experience
Strong reactivity? No. Some reactivity? Yes.
From a research methods perspective: contamination
From a human flourishing perspective: reactivity can help people live more thoughtful lives.
Some factors may predispose people towards greater reactivity
Studies have not found strong reactivity to drug-use monitoring (Hufford et al. 2002, cited in Shiffman 2009)
Why? Moos (2008) speculates that habituation to monitoring blunts reactivity (cited in Shiffman 2009)
Bif

30. Possible EMA Applications at Your School
First-year student time usage, study habits, etc.
Classroom uses
Responses to intercultural experiences (Chicago)
Residence life satisfaction
Your ideas?
Bif
* Further iHabit™ development
- Backend data management
- App-based user feedback
- Droid version
* Identify factors associated with positive reactivity (e.g., motivation and stage of change) to promote student success.
* Test iHabit™ in other contexts
- Integrate into a first-year course
- Use to identify academically at-risk students via real-time data
- Study and attempt to modify students’ health behaviors

31. Your next step… Try it out: Decide what you want: EMA? EMI? Both
Download iHabit™ from iTunes, select FYE survey
Use it for a couple of days to see how EMA works
Decide what you want: EMA? EMI? Both
Assemble a software development team or go with an established vendor:
Contact Invivodata at
Contact us or visit

32. brian.fry@indwes.edu or
For more info contact: or
or visit: