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Updated: Mar 18, 2026

Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
Usability of Low-Cost Android Data Collection System for Community-Based Participatory Research
Background:
Android tablet computers can be valuable tools for data collection, but their usability has not been evaluated in community-based participatory research (CBPR).
Objectives:
This article examines the usability of a low-cost bilingual touchscreen computerized survey system using Android tablets, piloted with a sample of 201 community residents in Tampa, Florida, from November 2013 to March 2014.
Methods:
Needs assessment questions were designed with the droidSURVEY software, and deployed using Android tablet computers. In addition, participants were asked questions about system usability.
Results:
The mean system usability was 77.57 ± 17.66 (range, 0-100). The mean completion time for taking the 63 survey questions in the needs assessment was 23.11 ± 9.62 minutes. The survey completion rate was optimal (100%), with only 6.34% missingness per variable. We found no sociodemographic differences in usability scores.
Conclusions:
Our findings indicate that Android tablets could serve as useful tools in CBPR studies.
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