A methodological project exploring the use of sensors in social research
The HomeSense field trial
The research team trialled digital sensors (fixed and mobile) in a small number of UK households, correlating the measures they gave of location, movement, light and noise levels, particulates, temperature, humidity and device use.
Sensor box fitted onto the kitchen wall in volunteer household.
We managed the intensive measurements sensors can afford while examining specifically how this method – when applied in an intimate setting – affects respondents’ burden, their consent and privacy. In converting sensor-generated data into meaningful descriptions of socially relevant activities, we also considered other types of data: questionnaires and interviews, ethnographic notes and a 4-day diary of time-use we asked our participants to keep.
Collecting from the last households before Christmas vacation and we now have 13 good ones completed, but we need 20 to meet our target so we now take advantage of Royal Mail to distribute flyers around the Guildford area.
A Free Day Of Fun, Imagination and Discovery 13 May 2017, celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the University of Surrey. The event attracted thousands of people interested in show-and-tell science, from all across the south of England. The research team operated a full-day demonstration of HomeSense field trial technology, titled:…Read More
With a favourable ethical opinion from the University of Surrey Ethics Committee, recruitment has started with flyers going up around campus, in town, in community centres and online bulletin boards. Not much response so far.
The ethics review application is back with questions for us to address. Key issues turn on ensuring an adequately informed consent (and assent) from all types of participants including those who participate indirectly (e.g. children, guests and domestic labourers). Apparently, we didn’t produce an adequate risk-assessment either.
A full trial run in a two-person household (couple), knowing that we are still testing for anomalies and unforeseen issues throughout the whole process. For instance, we couldn’t foresee that an EGG ends up on top of an empty box for eggs for support because the wall-mount fails.
It’s a long list, the incident list. Routers don’t work, sensors don’t stay put, get knocked down, are badly placed and don’t capture what they are supposed to capture. The consent forms are inadequate, interviews could get a bit awkward, and are we prepared for children, shared households, chaotic lifestyles,…Read More
Time to take the sensor-suite out of the controlled environment and see how the devices do when they are installed in a house of a generous friend willing to help us out. With a data server and database environment up and running, data transmission tested and encrypted, a design of…Read More
By June we were still building, adapting and testing the EGG and how to utilise activity sensors, but the next task is to see if we can adapt the electricity monitoring kit, used by our colleagues working on the WholeSEM project.
A good part of May was spent testing a variety of activity wristbands, comparing their measurements on our own arms, and by asking colleagues to wear them over a number of days. Agreement between measures of the medically-graded Actiwatch (blue) and the ~£20 MiBand (green).
Building and adapting devices started already in Feb 2016. The first task was to get onboard with the development of the WiFi-enabled ICS Desk Egg, to gradually adapt the design to our field trial and thoroughly test the built-in sensors capturing range, particulates, sound, vibration, temperature & humidity, light &…Read More
