research-article

Tracking physical activity: problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices

Authors:

Daniel Harrison,

Paul Marshall,

Nadia Berthouze,

Jon BirdAuthors Info & Claims

UbiComp '14 Adjunct: Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing: Adjunct Publication

Pages 699 - 702

https://doi.org/10.1145/2638728.2641320

Published: 13 September 2014 Publication History

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Abstract

The problems with inactive and sedentary lifestyles are widely recognised. People believe that activity tracking systems, such as the Fitbit, may aid them in meeting recommended levels of physical activity. Similar systems have been the subject of previous research, but many of these studies were conducted over a short-term and some results may be attributable to reactivity or novelty effects. We ran a longitudinal mixed-methods effectiveness study using the Fitbit Zip activity tracker with 50 participants. In this paper we present two main challenges experienced during this study: the unreliability of the device and a lack of engagement by some of the participants. The issues we experienced can help inform the design of future studies.

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Ley-Flores JVidal LSegura ESingh ABevilacqua FCuadrado FDurán JValdiviezo-Hernández OSánchez-Martin MTajadura-Jiménez A(2024)Co-Designing Sensory Feedback for Wearables to Support Physical Activity through Body SensationsProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36434998:1(1-31)Online publication date: 6-Mar-2024
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Index Terms

Tracking physical activity: problems related to running longitudinal studies with commercial devices
1. Human-centered computing

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Published In

UbiComp '14 Adjunct: Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing: Adjunct Publication

September 2014

1409 pages

ISBN:9781450330473

DOI:10.1145/2638728

General Chairs:
AJ Brush
Microsoft Research
,
Adrian Friday
Lancaster University, UK
,
Program Chairs:
Julie Kientz
University of Washington
,
James Scott
Microsoft Research, UK
,
Junehwa Song
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), KR

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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SIGSPATIAL: ACM Special Interest Group on Spatial Information

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 13 September 2014

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Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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UbiComp '14

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UbiComp '14: The 2014 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing

September 13 - 17, 2014

Washington, Seattle

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 764 of 2,912 submissions, 26%

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UbiComp '24

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The 2024 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

October 5 - 9, 2024

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648616
Ley-Flores JVidal LSegura ESingh ABevilacqua FCuadrado FDurán JValdiviezo-Hernández OSánchez-Martin MTajadura-Jiménez A(2024)Co-Designing Sensory Feedback for Wearables to Support Physical Activity through Body SensationsProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36434998:1(1-31)Online publication date: 6-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643499
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Recommendations

Activity tracking: barriers, workarounds and customisation

Design requirements for technologies that encourage physical activity

Contextual Influences on the Use and Non-Use of Digital Technology While Exercising at the Gym