A Framework for Analyzing and Measuring Usage and Engagement Data (AMUsED) in Digital Interventions: Viewpoint

Trials of digital interventions can yield extensive, in-depth usage data, yet usage analyses tend to focus on broad descriptive summaries of how an intervention has been used by the whole sample. This paper proposes a novel framework to guide systematic, fine-grained usage analyses that better enables understanding of how an intervention works, when, and for whom. The framework comprises three stages to assist in the following: (1) familiarization with the intervention and its relationship to the captured data, (2) identification of meaningful measures of usage and specifying research questions to guide systematic analyses of usage data, and (3) preparation of datasheets and consideration of available analytical methods with which to examine the data. The framework can be applied to inform data capture during the development of a digital intervention and/or in the analysis of data after the completion of an evaluation trial. We will demonstrate how the framework shaped preparation and aided efficient data capture for a digital intervention to lower transmission of cold and flu viruses in the home, as well as how it informed a systematic, in-depth analysis of usage data collected from a separate digital intervention designed to promote self-management of colds and flu. The Analyzing and Measuring Usage and Engagement Data (AMUsED) framework guides systematic and efficient in-depth usage analyses that will support standardized reporting with transparent and replicable findings. These detailed findings may also enable examination of what constitutes effective engagement with particular interventions.