What Data are Researchers Collecting From Your Wearable Device?
Wearable technology has revolutionized health research. The wearable technology device market is projected to be $34 billion by 2020. If you do the math, that’s about 411 million smart wearable devices sold. Wearable technology is being applied in fabric, smartwatches, helmets and activity trackers like Fitbit to boost health and lead better lives. As you can imagine, there’s a considerable amount of data generated every single second. But how exactly is this data being aggregated and analyzed over time as part of innovative research? Now, thanks to Fitabase’s new report, we can see what researchers are paying particularly close attention to.
Fitabase is a research platform that collects data from internet-connected consumer devices and should be of interest for anyone wanting to export data gathered from many device wearers. Since Fitabase started in 2012, they’ve received request upon request for information about how Fitbit devices have been used in research. Led by Ernesto Ramirez, Director of Research & Development, Fitabase meticulously collected, sorted, and tagged over 160 validation studies to innovative intervention and peer-reviewed journals to comprise a comprehensive research library. Below are the major takeaways from their research:
Pace Of Research
The research, sourced from over 160 publications, has escalated at a rapid pace from only three published studies in 2012 to 98 in 2016. It’s a fair accessment that the increase in research compliments the rising adoption of consumer wearables.
Types Of Fitbit Devices
The most popular models researched are the One (47), Flex (45) and Zip (37). The least researched model is the Surge.
Study Types
Fitabase tagged each study with a description of the study type. As Ramirez states, “Far and away, the most popular type of study to conduct is a validation of a Fitbit device and the specific data they gather (64 studies).”
What Data Is Being Collected?
Without a doubt, the most well-known metric collected is the step count. There were over 112 studies conducted on step counts gathered by Fitbit devices. The least interested data are floors (1), food (2) and goals (2).
Type of Participants Recruited
A variety of industries and demographics are applying consumer wearable devices such as Fitbit. Fitabase explored the physical activity in different age groups as well as a “patients” tag. 124 studies were conducted on Fitbit’s impact on adults followed by patients with 43.
For more information and links to every single study on consumer wearable devices, click here.
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