“eMoodie” is a smartphone application which was designed as a ‘kid-friendly’ app intended for use by teenagers. This study will be conducted with a +18 sample and is meant to be a pilot test of the application before it will be used in future research with young people. In behavioural research, typical laboratory experiments are sometimes not desirable because the patterns of behaviour that we are interested in are not readily observable in such settings. Because of the ubiquity of smartphones and the advancement of new mobile application technologies, smartphones can now be used as research tools to measure people’s experiences as they occur in their everyday lives. We are interested in measuring digital technology/media use and its relationship to your emotions and other important aspects of your daily experience.

Why am I being asked to take part? Do I have to take part?

You are being asked to take part because you are probably a student at the University of Edinburgh. We will be recruiting participants for this study largely from the undergraduate student body. If you have any questions about the study before participating, feel free to contact the e-mail listed under the heading “Contact for Further Information”. There is no requirement that you take part - your participation is completely up to you. If you want to drop out at any point during the study, you can do so without any further questions asked – you simply need to send an e-mail to inform us of your decision and uninstall the application from your phone. Or if you want to end the interview, you only need to tell the interviewer.

What is the inclusion criteria for the study?

We ask that you are 18+, own an Android Smartphone, & speak English fluently in order to participate.

What do I have to do?

You simply have to download and install the app and use it for the duration of the study (one calendar week). The app will notify you at random times, periodically throughout the day. When you receive a notification you will be asked to fill in a short survey which will only take about 30-60 seconds (up to 6 times per day). You will be asked questions like what you are doing, if you’ve been using any digital technologies, the current social setting, how you feel, and, during the first survey of the day, how you slept the night before. There will also be standard questionnaires loaded onto the app that you will be asked to fill out at some point during the study whenever you have time. These questionnaires pertain to your personality, sleep and physical activity patterns, and social feelings. The app has been designed to automatically collect some data about your usage of the phone such as how often and how long you use certain applications (e.g., social media), how many text messages you send, how long you spend on voice calls each day, and data from the accelerometer. Please note that no content will be collected, but only data about the frequency and/or duration of usage.

After the portion of the study with the app is completed, you will be asked to come in for a short session where you will participate in computerized cognitive tasks, fill in a participant demographic form, and take part in a short, audio-taped interview where you will be asked to give your feedback about what you liked or didn’t like about the app and how you think it can be improved. This session will take approximately 30 minutes.

What are the possible benefits of taking part? Is there a downside to taking part?

The possible benefit from you taking part is that your participation will help a research project aimed at helping us understand how technology may be affecting kids. The downside to taking part is that it will require that you commit your time to participate. You may miss a notification from time to time which is ok, but in order for your data to be valid for analysis, we need you to have answered at least 85% of the notifications and to have completed the questionnaires loaded on the app. In return, we will financially reimburse you £10 payment for your participation, or if you are an undergraduate psychology student, you can sign up to the study and have it count towards your participation credits. There is a menu option on the app that will allow you to see your progress throughout the study.

Will my data be confidential?

The confidentiality and security of your data was an utmost priority for this project. Procedures were followed in accordance with the University of Edinburgh's data protection policy which can be accessed at:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/data-protection/data-protection-policy.

Who is organising the study? Who has reviewed the study?

This project is being supported by the Department of Clinical Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, and is being supervised by Professor Matthias Schwannauer, Dr. Ethel Quayle, Dr. Bonnie Auyeung, and Dr. Elena Gherri. The study has been reviewed and has received ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee in the School of Health in Social Science.

Contact for Further information (Including independent contact)

Claire Ann Banga, PhD Student Clinical Psychology
School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh
Medical School, Doorway 6, Teviot Place
Edinburgh, UK EH8 9AG

If you have any queries or concerns, please get in touch with Claire Ann Banga at:
emoodie@ed.ac.uk

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If you have any queries or concerns, please get in touch with the study's principal investigator at:

Claire Ann Banga, PhD Student Clinical Psychology
School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh
Medical School, Doorway 6
Teviot Place
Edinburgh, UK EH8 9AG

emoodie@ed.ac.uk
]]> (A) I understand that I am participating in the pilot evaluation of "eMoodie" as part of an ongoing research project at the University of Edinburgh. (B) I understand the purpose of this research, and that I am able to ask questions about it at any time. (C) I confirm that I meet the inclusion criteria, namely that I am at least 18 years of age, am a fluent English speaker, own an Android smartphone, and am willing to download and use the application on my smartphone for the duration of the study. (D) I understand that the data I provide in the short survey forms, the questionnaire data, the usage data collected from my phone, and the data from the in-person session as outlined in the participant information form, will be collected and analysed in this pilot evaluation. I consent that my data (always in anonymised form) may be used in future publications related to the study and for any subsequent secondary analyses and I understand that it will be stored for 5 years after all publications are completed. (E) I understand that in order for me to receive payment for my participation, I am required to respond to a minimum of 85% of the short surveys during the one week study period, complete the questionnaires on the application, and attend the in-person follow-up session. (F) I understand that the data from the application will remain on my phone for the duration of the study and that I am responsible to ensure the security of my phone, and that I cannot hold the university liable for the data if my phone is lost or stolen during the study. I consent to the removal and deletion of this data off my phone at the in-person assessment. (G) I understand that I am free to withdraw my consent for involvement with this research project at any time and that in doing so I am responsible for uninstalling the application off of my mobile phone and contacting the principle investigator. (H) I am willing for the in-person interview in which I will provide comments about my experience using the application to be digitally recorded and I am willing for anonymised extracts from this interview to be used as part of the research. (I) I am happy to be contacted about future studies.
We have split it into 6 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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We have split it into 6 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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We have split it into 6 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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We have split it into 6 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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We have split it into 7 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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We have split it into 7 parts, but feel free to complete as many parts as you would like at a time. Please note that if you exit out of the application before completing a questionnaire, the application will not save the answers from a partially completed questionnaire.
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Vigorous physical activities refer to activities that take hard physical effort and make you breathe much harder than normal, while moderate activities refer to activities that take moderate physical effort and make you breathe somewhat harder than normal.
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