LifeData

Researchers who need answers from people as their days unfold use LifeData, a platform built around experience sampling.

Experience sampling for studies that run in daily life

The platform is built for researchers who need information from people as it happens, rather than through a single questionnaire at one sitting. Its main method is experience sampling, which asks participants to answer short questions on their smartphones at moments set by the study design. The same platform supports ecological momentary assessment (EMA), eDiary, ePRO and eCOA studies, so a team can gather diary entries, patient-reported outcomes and other clinical observations inside one system. The company says it serves both behavioral research and clinical trials.

Building a study and inviting participants

A researcher starts by writing the questions and deciding when and how each one will be delivered. The questions and schedules are packaged together as one complete study, ready to launch. Participants then join through an email link or a QR code, and in one simple process they download the LifeData mobile app and the study itself. The company describes this rapid onboarding as a way to bring people in quickly and keep enrollment simple.

Scheduling and follow-up questions

Scheduling is where the platform gives researchers the most control. Questions can be sent at fixed times, such as set points in a day, or at random moments inside a chosen window with a minimum gap between prompts. The company gives the example of three random prompts across a working day, spaced apart to capture changes in mood. Follow-up questions can branch straight from an answer, or be triggered later by a response: either a set interval afterwards, or a whole new schedule that runs for several days. A single study can therefore combine event-based reporting, daily diary entries and intervention materials.

Offline collection and automatic uploads

Once the app and study protocol are on a participant's phone, collection continues without a network connection. Responses upload automatically when the phone reconnects to Wi-Fi or a cellular signal, which the company presents as a way to keep data gathering going through connectivity problems. Participants can also use an anonymous mode, in which the app is used without any personally identifiable information being collected.

Compliance and ethics support

LifeData says its design helps researchers meet the requirements of institutional review boards, HIPAA and GDPR, because anonymous participant data can be collected and personal details can be kept out of the study. Team members can be given roles with different levels of access to the system and to the data, which matters where several researchers or sites run the same protocol.

Data access and reporting

Responses can be downloaded as CSV files at any point in the study. Real-time dashboards show engagement and answers as they arrive, so a team can check compliance and response rates while data is still being gathered. The company provides a help center and dedicated support staff, and it offers consulting services, including training for study sponsors and sites.

The customers it describes

The company describes its users as individual researchers, multi-researcher teams and multi-site clinical research groups. Subscription options are sized to each kind of user. LifeData says hundreds of institutions in dozens of countries rely on the platform, and that it has been cited in a large number of published studies.