@Article{info:doi/10.2196/19789,
author="Taylor, Casey Overby
and Flaks-Manov, Natalie
and Ramesh, Shankar
and Choe, Eun Kyoung",
title="Willingness to Share Wearable Device Data for Research Among Mechanical Turk Workers: Web-Based Survey Study",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2021",
month="Oct",
day="21",
volume="23",
number="10",
pages="e19789",
keywords="wearables; personal data; research participation; crowdsourcing",
abstract="Background: Wearable devices that are used for observational research and clinical trials hold promise for collecting data from study participants in a convenient, scalable way that is more likely to reach a broad and diverse population than traditional research approaches. Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a potential resource that researchers can use to recruit individuals into studies that use data from wearable devices. Objective: This study aimed to explore the characteristics of wearable device users on MTurk that are associated with a willingness to share wearable device data for research. We also aimed to determine whether compensation was a factor that influenced the willingness to share such data. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey study of MTurk workers who use wearable devices for health monitoring. A 19-question web-based survey was administered from March 1 to April 5, 2018, to participants aged ≥18 years by using the MTurk platform. In order to identify characteristics that were associated with a willingness to share wearable device data, we performed logistic regression and decision tree analyses. Results:  A total of 935 MTurk workers who use wearable devices completed the survey. The majority of respondents indicated a willingness to share their wearable device data (615/935, 65.8{\%}), and the majority of these respondents were willing to share their data if they received compensation (518/615, 84.2{\%}). The findings from our logistic regression analyses indicated that Indian nationality (odds ratio [OR] 2.74, 95{\%} CI 1.48-4.01, P=.007), higher annual income (OR 2.46, 95{\%} CI 1.26-3.67, P=.02), over 6 months of using a wearable device (OR 1.75, 95{\%} CI 1.21-2.29, P=.006), and the use of heartbeat and pulse tracking monitoring devices (OR 1.60, 95{\%} CI 0.14-2.07, P=.01) are significant parameters that influence the willingness to share data. The only factor associated with a willingness to share data if compensation is provided was Indian nationality (OR 0.47, 95{\%} CI 0.24-0.9, P=.02). The findings from our decision tree analyses indicated that the three leading parameters associated with a willingness to share data were the duration of wearable device use, nationality, and income. Conclusions: Most wearable device users indicated a willingness to share their data for research use (with or without compensation; 615/935, 65.8{\%}). The probability of having a willingness to share these data was higher among individuals who had used a wearable for more than 6 months, were of Indian nationality, or were of American (United States of America) nationality and had an annual income of more than US {\$}20,000. Individuals of Indian nationality who were willing to share their data expected compensation significantly less often than individuals of American nationality (P=.02). ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/19789",
url="https://www.jmir.org/2021/10/e19789",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/19789",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34673528"
}