About the APPS Study!

Thank you for your interest in the Kids Advertising & Product Placement Study (Kids APPS)!

Why is this research being done?

We are interested in better understanding digital device use among children, and what kinds of food and beverage advertising children are exposed to on mobile devices.

First, we will first schedule a 15-20 minute phone call to tell you about the study and answer any questions you may have. During this phone call, we will ask if you would like to take part in the study. Your participation is completely voluntary, and you may agree or decline to take part in the study.

Next, if you agree to participate, we will email you a link to an initial survey about your child’s typical device usage habits and sugary beverage consumption. We will also send you information about how to take screenshots of your child’s app usage on their digital device, and how to email or text it to the study team. We will also confirm your study start date.

Then, on the first morning of the study we will send you a reminder email. The email will include a link to the Daily Screentime Survey. We ask that you complete this online survey each evening after your child finishes using their mobile device for the day for 5 days in a row. After you complete the survey, you will take a screenshot from your child’s digital device about their app usage from the day. Instructions on how to send the app usage data this will be sent to you. You will receive an email with this information every morning for the study duration, 5 days total. We expect you will be in this research study for up to about 7 days. When we finish analyzing the data, we will present the overall study results back to you via e-mail, unless you tell us you do not want us to contact you further.

If you have any questions you may contact our study team via email apps.harvard@gmail.com or phone (617) 299-0837, and we will get back to you as soon as we are able.