While the popularity of smart phones continues to grow, researchers at Penn State are harnessing the new technology and using smart phones as an important tool in a new $1 million research project funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). This new generation of phone combines the mobility of a traditional cell phone with the computing power of a basic home computer. This combination of features is allows researchers to collect large amounts of data on human behavior and perceptions in real-time. The Intraindividual Study of Aging, Health and Interpersonal Behavior (iSAHIB) project and research team emerged from two SSRI seed grants. One grant allowed the principal investigator, Dr. Nilam Ram, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), to co-host an international and interdisciplinary working group meeting on intra-individual or within-person variability in aging (i.e., how individuals change within themselves over time). The second grant funded the pilot study which provided the preliminary data for the successful NIA grant application.
Over a period of 18 months, iSAHIB researchers are collecting three 21-day waves of detailed information from participants about interpersonal interactions, daily activities, and feelings on health and well-being. Participants vary widely in age, from 18 to 90 years old, The smart phone technology allows participants to use web-based questionnaires to input information about reactions and perceptions as they are happening, as opposed to survey research that requires participants to recall perceptions and emotions from days or weeks past. Dr. Ram emphasizes iSAHIB's “focus on measuring within-person changes or differences, as opposed to typical health research that emphasizes an aggregate picture of average individual”. Instead, 140 separate models are being developed to track and describe the perceptions and behaviors of each individual. “The developmental science approach talks about within-person changes, paying attention to the idiosyncratic nature of the individual. From my perspective as a methodologist, one of the things we haven't been able to do very well yet in research is to study people within context,” said Dr. Ram. The element of context is what the real-time technology of the smart phone is able to capture- an instant snapshot in time. Another unique advantage of real- time transfer from smart phone to server is that it allows the researchers to track change very precisely. Problems with data can be detected and remedied immediately, unlike in traditional survey research. Recently, some anomalies were detected in data collection, so the research team checked in with a 90-year old survey participant and discovered she was having some technical difficulties with her smart-phone. They were able to pinpoint her problems, and she was soon back to “happily playing” on her smart phone and data was once again being accurately relayed to the server.
The iSAHIB project is truly a collaborative effort with faculty, graduates and undergraduates from kinesiology, psychology, gerontology, health and human development, and visual arts. Because of the intense technological component of the project, the team also includes computer programmers, hardware specialists, data analysts, and trainers. The team secured hardware (the smart phones), developed new smart phone software on a Windows mobile platform, and are currently developing analytic techniques to process the rich and intensive set of data gathered.
Further, building upon the development in infrastructure by iSAHIB, a new Remote and Intensive Data (RAID) lab was recently formed with the support of SSRI. The lab is working on expanding the hardware and software developed from the study to be used in other fields of research. “Our goal is to create the systems that will be able to collect many different kinds of data, to integrate those data streams together, and even to analyze them as they are collected. In the last few months, we’ve made some good progress and are beginning to bring the various parts together,” Dr. Ram said.
In the future, the iSAHIB team will pursue new approaches to measure environmental and physiological factors that may impact various health-related phenomena. For example, mobile devices could track heart rate variability in the participant or pollen counts in their environment. By combining intensive momentary data reported by individuals with environmental measures, incredibly rich pictures will emerge regarding the temporal sequencing of interpersonal and environmental events interacting to influence a multitude of health outcomes. Eventually, this data can be applied for immediate and personal intervention via text message, improving the individual's overall health with simple, evidence-based suggestions and/or adjustments.