Do you have an Android phone?
Do you want to earn $100?
Researchers at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information are studying the connections between wellbeing and socio-mobility data.
Research conducted by Professor Vivek Singh, is looking into how mobile phones can be used to collect and analyze mobility and social connection patterns of individuals to understand the connection between socio-mobile behavior (GPS and call logs) and wellbeing.
Participants in this study will be required to attend 3 in-person sessions of less than an hour each and install a mobile application onto their smartphone which records mobility and social behavior meta-data (calls and sms number, times and anonymized id, but NO actual call or sms content). The in-person sessions would involve filling out 3-6 surveys pertaining to health, wellbeing, privacy concerns and some demographic data.
Anybody between 18-75 years, who carries an Android phone on them on a regular basis, and is comfortable with written and oral English, is eligible to apply. The users will receive a total compensation of $100 for participation in the study. The three study sessions will be spread over three months and pro-rated payments will be $20, $30, and $50 respectively for the three sessions.
To sign up email the research team at:
rutgerswellbeing@gmail.com
for the time and location of the study. For more information about the study, visit the project website at
Frequently Asked Questions.
- What are the objectives of this study?
- Who can participate, and what do they need to do to join?
- How can I join?
- Responsibilities and obligations of participants
- What information will be collected?
- Questions about privacy concerns
- How can one opt-out of the study?
- If participants have questions about the study, who should they contact?
- Who is conducting this research and how is it being supported?
- Common issues with the apps and troubleshooting.
- NEW: “Unfortunately Rutgers Wellbeing has stopped” error?
What are the objectives of this study?
This research conducted by Professor Vivek Singh, is looking into how mobile phones can be used to collect and analyze mobility and social connection patterns of individuals to understand the connection between socio-mobile behavior (GPS and call logs) and wellbeing.
Participants in this study will be required to attend 3 survey sessions for three in-person sessions of less than an hour each and install a mobile application onto their smartphone which records mobility and social behavior meta-data (calls and sms number, times and anonymized id, but NO actual call or sms content). The in-person sessions would involve filling out 3-6 surveys pertaining to health, wellbeing, privacy attitude and some demographic data.
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Who can participate in this study, and what do they need to do to join?
- Anybody between 18-75 years;
- who carries an Android phone on them on a regular basis, and
- is comfortable with written and oral English, is eligible to apply.
The participation and $100 incentive is limited to the first 100 respondents.
Please send us an email at Rutgerswellbeing@gmail.com.
To ensure your application is given priority, include these details.
- I carry an Android phone and use it on a regular basis: Yes/No.
- I am between 18-75 years; Yes/No
- I am comfortable with written and oral English: Yes/No.
The participation and $100 incentive is limited to 100 respondents.
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What are the responsibilities and obligations of the participants?
We ask that the participants:
- Carry the phone with them when they would normally carry a cellular telephone
- Use the phone as their primary communication device for the duration of this study
- Keep the device charged and operational to the best of their ability
- Attend the three in-person study sessions and answer survey questions.
What information will be collected?
We will capture the following information from the smartphone:
- Communication log data:This includes date and time of communication event, the type of communication (text/call), incoming or outgoing, duration, and anonymized identifiers for both sender and receiver. This will not include the actual content of these communications.
- Physical location: Including the location of the device using GPS and approximate location area based on cell tower .
These will be complemented by in person surveys.
- Survey data:The participants will be asked to attend three in-person sessions where they will be asked to fill 3-6 surveys related to health, wellbeing, privacy attitude and some demographic data.
Questions about privacy concerns
We have taken numerous precautions to ensure security and privacy. The professors who are in charge of this project have worked on other projects involving personal data and developed highly secure procedures for handing such data. All procedures that we will use to collect, transmit, and store the data have been reviewed and approved by the Rutgers University Institutional Review Board. Our specific security measures include:
- Encyption of all data prior to transfer from phone to secure servers.
- Storage of data on secure servers with firewalls.
- Access to data only by the principal investigator (Professor Vivek Singh) and the research team. All personnel involved with the study have undergone human subject training and IRB certification.
Research publications developed from these data will focus on general network patterns and not on people’s specific networks. We are interested in patterns and not the specifics of any single individual’s behavior. Our research and publications will focus on aggregated patterns (e.g., differences between men and women, or social vs non-social users).
How can one opt-out of the study?
Users may choose to opt out of the study at any time. They can simply uninstall the mobile application and send an email to the Principal Investigator (v.singh@rutgers.edu). Unless explicitly allowed by the participant, all data collected about the user will be deleted. Once the participants opts out, they cannot attend subsequent survey sessions, or receive the monetary incentive.
If participants have questions about the study, who should they contact?
You can contact us at any time at rutgerswellbeing@gmail.com.
We are available to answer your questions about this research. You may contact the Principal Investigator at:
Vivek Singh,
Principal Investigator,
Phone: 848 932 7588
Email: v.singh@rutgers.edu
Address: 4 Huntington St.,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact the IRB Administrator at Rutgers University at:
Arts and Sciences Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects
Office of Research and Regulatory Affairs
Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey
335 George Street
Liberty Plaza / 3rd Floor / Suite 3200
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: 848-932-0150
Email: humansubjects@orsp.rutgers.edu
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Who is conducting this research and how is it being supported?
The research team consists of one professor (Vivek Singh), one research manager (Cecilia Gal), and some amazing research students. Our research is supported in part by a grant from the School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University.
The Team
Vivek Singh (Principal Investigator),
Assistant Professor,
School of Communication and Information,
Rutgers University.
334, SCI Building,
4 Huntington St.,
New Brunswick, NJ-08901.
v.singh@rutgers.edu
Cecilia Gal,
Research Manager,
School of Communication and Information,
Rutgers University.
4 Huntington St.,
New Brunswick, NJ-08901.
Isha Ghosh, Research Associate.
Ariana Blake, Research Associate.
Suril Dalal, Research Associate.
Sneha Dasari, Research Associate.
Justin Hernandez, Research Associate.
Padmapriya M. S., Research Associate.
Common Issues and suggestions:
- How to check if the app is running?
- Go to Settings -> Application Manager -> Running (you will need to slide left from the initial ”downloaded” tab)
- You should see Rutgers Wellbeing in the list of apps running.
- How to start the app?
- It should start automatically when you restart your phone. If for any reason, it is not currently not running, you can go to: Apps -> Rutgers Wellbeing, and just tap on it once.
- Have you been on wi-fi at least once a day for at least one continuous hour?
- If not, do you think you can do that on a regular basis? If not, will you be able to upload the data through a data connection? We have noticed large fluctuations in the amount of data being uploaded from phones. It has ranged between 5 MB/day to 60 MB/day.
- Please contact us at rutgerswellbeing@gmail.com if you would like a 3G upload version.
- Other common issues:
- Memory space available on your phone? Availability of less than 500 MB of available space on the phone may impede the proper functioning of the app. Please see if you can make around 500 MB space available.
- Have you upgraded your phone’s Operating System recently? The app has been tested on Android versions 3.0 to 4.2. We are currently in the process of testing the app with Android version 5.0 (Lollipop). If possible, may we suggest refraining from upgrading the operating for the next 8 weeks?
- How to check my phone’s Operating system version? You can go to Settings -> About Phone -> Android Version. You can also see instructions here.
“Unfortunately Rutgers Wellbeing has stopped” error?
This can happen if the app has been collecting a lot of data and hasn’t been able to upload (and free up the resources.) The solutions in order of priority are:
- Clear up the Cache: See images below.
- Clear Data: See images below.
- Restart the phone.
- Uninstall and install the app: Please email us if you want the app link again.
