Frequently Asked Question
The BootStRaP study is conducted online via the BootstrApp across 9 European countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland). The study is led by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. The BootStRaP study wants to better understand internet use in young people. This will help stop young people using the internet in ways that makes their mental wellbeing worse. The results of this study will help make a new phone app that helps young people find out if they’re heading towards having difficulties with using the internet and teach them how to manage these behaviours.
The amount of data storage on your smartphone is kept minimal at a maximum of 200 MB across the whole project duration. Data that is not required for the functioning of the app will be deleted after uploading to the database. Data will be uploaded regularly during the study and at maximum of 4 MB per day. The data uploads to our computer system in Europe will be encrypted (kept secret). The data collection follows ‘privacy by design’ principles to protect your privacy. No other Apps can access the data on your BootstrApp and The Dragon Game App. You can decide not to continue with the study at any point. However, we won’t be able to go back and delete your data up to that point. Once the study has ended, information that is changed so that nobody will know who you are, will be stored for 10 years so we can analyse and use the information collected for future research in this area. You – but not your parents or teachers – will be able to see your personal results as part of your personal feedback.
Throughout the 6 months we’ll be collecting the following information so we can let you know how you’re using your phone:
• How many apps you use and how much time you spend on your phone and the internet
• How many phone calls you make, when you make them, and how long you spend on calls and sending text messages
• Number of steps per day, distance covered and physical activity (accelerometer and rotation rate)
This is known as Mobile Sensing. This information is already collected daily by your phone. We won’t be able to see exactly what you’re doing on your apps, on the internet, in your messages or on your calls.
We will only measure your internet usage with questionnaires and by means of mobile sensing on your smartphone, that you are using for the study.
Approximately two weeks after joining the study, the Bootstrap app will start your programme. The programme selected for you may be based on your individual responses collected during the first two weeks of the study. This allocation is made automatically by a computer-based algorithm rather than by a member of the research team. The algorithm has been developed using information collected from young people who took part in earlier phases of the BootStRaP project.
If you have not already copied your apps including BootstrApp on your new phone, you can type the appropriate link (Android: URL Apple: URL) into the browser of your new phone and install the app. Please open BootstrApp and insert your Participant ID when the app asks for it. You can access your Participant ID in the settings submenu “My Participant ID” in the BootstrApp installed on your old phone. Alternatively, you can find your Participant ID on the dedicated sheet where you noted it during the consent procedure.
Yes, it is possible to pause a questionaire and come back to it later. To pause the questionnaire first close the questionnaire mask by clicking on the “X” in the right upper corner. To start with the questionnaire again just go on the home screen and click on “Continue” for the block that you paused.
Participating will require completing several questionnaires, which will take in total 4,5 hours, spread over the study duration of six months. In order to receive your personal feedback, certificate of completion, and your £10 voucher, you have to fill in at least 90% of the questions.
Your individual feedback, certificate and voucher will be available after you complete your six-month study participation.
Please go to the Help section of the BootstrApp and click on Mental Health Support. There you will find information about where you can get help if you don’t feel mentally well.
Please first check if your question regarding technical issues is already being answered in the FAQ section. If you cannot find an answer to your technical issue there, please go to the Help section of the BootstrApp and click on Technical Support. There you will find information about where you can get help if you have technicall issues.
You can stop participating at any time by selecting “Cancel participation” in the BootstrApp. After cancelling your participation, no further data will be collected by the BootstrApp, but it will not be possible to rejoin and complete the study.
Project news including study results will be available on www.internetandme.eu. Analysing the data can take some time (several months) and will take place after study completion. So do not worrry if you have not seen any study results there yet!
Our long term goal is to develop an app, which can help preventing and estimating the risk for Problematic Internet Use and make it available for free for everyone! However, the current version of the app does not include such functionality and is intended for the study only. After the study has finished, you will be able to see your feedback and download a certificate and voucher from the app for some time, but there will be no other functions.
