Examining Participant Adherence with Wearables in an In-the-Wild Setting.

Area of Science:

• Ubiquitous computing
• Human-computer interaction
• Wearable technology

Background:

• Wearable devices generate valuable data for ubiquitous computing research, particularly for sleep habit analysis.
• Current data validation often relies on limited, short-term lab studies with unrepresentative samples.
• In-the-wild wearable studies face financial risks and logistical challenges, often leading to university student participation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and participant adherence of a month-long, in-the-wild study using wearable sleep trackers.
• To provide data on device usage in a real-world setting beyond typical laboratory conditions.
• To inform the design and implementation of future mid-size, in-the-wild wearable technology studies.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a month-long in-the-wild study involving 31 Japanese adults.
• Participants utilized the Oura ring, a commercially available, unobtrusive sleep tracking device.
• Focused on measuring device usage and adherence throughout the study period.

Main Results:

• Achieved high device usage rates among participants over the one-month study duration.
• Demonstrated the viability of conducting longer-term, mid-size in-the-wild studies with wearable technology.
• Collected data on real-world adherence patterns for sleep tracking wearables.

Conclusions:

• In-the-wild studies with wearable devices can yield high participant engagement and device usage.
• Findings support the design and deployment of more extensive, real-world wearable technology research.
• This study provides a valuable reference for researchers planning similar in-the-wild investigations.