.FLYINGHEAD CUSTOM SOLUTIONS
.TITLE Using the PalmPilot to quit smoking
.OTHER
.AUTHOR Stu Slack
.SUMMARY Want to be inspired? In this uplifting and informative article by Stu Slack, we see inside an unusual and fascinating application of the PalmPilot: a stop-smoking study. Smokers in this study carry the PalmPilot at all times and regularly answer questions determined to help them stop smoking and help researchers understand smokers in a way never before possible.
.EDNOTE Last month, we introduced you to field data collection, a more "industrial" application of the PalmPilot. Because of its portability, the PalmPilot is an ideal computer to take into study groups, malls, and warehouses to capture information. In this second part of his series on custom solutions, Stu Slack describes how the PalmPilot was used to study smokers and may help gather important information to improve lives.
.H1 Background on the application
The Smoking Research Group (SRG) has been conducting smoking cessation research for well over a decade. Dr. Saul Shiffman, a pre-eminent researcher in addictions, and his colleagues at SRG (Robert Haack, Walter Perz, Michael Schupp, Chad Gwaltney, Michael Posey, and Jean Paty) conduct research in Pittsburgh and work with a number of universities across the country.
Originally, SRG used a paper-based data collection system, but quickly found that the results were both inaccurate and difficult to collect. Additionally, through their research, SRG found that subjects change behavior during the course of a study (lasting six to eight weeks). Since paper forms are not interactive, and can’t "learn" from the subject, the questions (and responses) cannot change as the subject moves from smoking to abstinence. All of this led SRG to develop their own automated data collection tools.
For the past several years, SRG has been using another device as their data collection tool. The device they used is stable and met their size and cost specifications. But the device had many characteristics that limited SRG’s solution. The text-only 4×20 character display makes it difficult to format complex questions. Graphical "controls" cannot be created; any user interface features (such as range controls, and so on) have to be implemented as text-based simulations. This in turn results in time-consuming and expensive training of research subjects in the use of the application.
.H1 Why PalmPilot?
Given their long-standing frustration with the old system, SRG considered the PalmPilot for use in its research almost as soon as it hit the market. They had been looking for a new solution to solve the problems of their aging application. The PalmPilot provided just the functionality SRG was looking for.
The PalmPilot was attractive for a variety of reasons, including its small size, low cost, graphical screen, HotSync technology, and industry-standard development environment (C-based instead a proprietary environment). At the same time, switching platforms meant abandoning the substantial investment they had made in the old environment. In the end, however, SRG decided that the flexibility offered by the PalmPilot platform opened enough new opportunities to justify the cost of integrating a new set of tools.
.H1 SRG’s special needs
Frankly, one of SRG’s motivations in moving to a new platform was the opportunity to work, in essence, on a clean slate. Over the past several years, SRG has learned a lot about field data collection and survey administration (having collected and analyzed data from more than 1500 participants), both with respect to subject psychology and to the mechanics of data collection. This new platform gives them the chance to assess everything that they have learned and incorporate it into a new, flexible system.
Some of SRG’s requirements were really quite challenging and raised special issues for the new application and the PalmPilot hardware. One of the most daunting has to do with alarm volume. SRG’s subjects carry the PalmPilot wherever they go; the application decides, based on recent subject behavior and responses, when to "interview" or "assess" the subject and collect data. Consequently, the subject can be just about anywhere when the interview (or assessment) is meant to start. However, the PalmPilot’s standard alarm tone is not loud enough for all situations, and doesn’t have a volume control (perhaps this is a case of Palm taking "unconscious portability" a bit too far). The new solution would have to deal with this platform limitation.
More interestingly, the new solution would need to incorporate what SRG has learned about subjects’ psychological changes during the course of addiction cessation. SRG’s research protocols address this directly. The PalmPilot-based application "learns" about the subject’s progress based on interview responses and adjusts subsequent interview content and schedule based on those results.
Further, SRG’s application challenged us to develop a truly friendly interface, because the subjects, in essence, interview themselves. SRG gives each subject a PalmPilot with the interview software loaded on it. The subject then carries the unit around at all times, and uses the device to record the information that SRG wants. In some cases, the application wakes up on its own and interrogates the user, too. At any rate, the application is being used throughout the day, in many locations, by untrained folks who are also stressed out about quitting smoking. Let me tell you that we worked hard to make the interface easy to use and straightforward. As an example, Figure A shows the application’s main menu.
.FIGPAIR A The user interface is straightforward and easy to use.
Lastly, the new application has to be robust. SRG’s application needs to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And the device must be dedicated to the interview engine
