Dual Income Family Research Study
We’re studying how you coorindate for your kids’ activities.

In part 2 of the study, we will test a working smart home technology that can automatically detect and notify you when for life doesn’t match your plans.
1 What do we get? Tells you about the compensation and how we provide it.
2 What is this study? Gives you more information about what the study requires.
3

Does my family qualify?

 Tells you about the kind of dual-income families we're looking for.
4 What do I do now? If you're interested and qualify, then please complete the preliminary survey to provide us with more detail about your family.

1. What do we get?

  1. $200 - $250 per month in cash
  2. Free phone service including minutes, text messaging and mobile internet
  3. $100 bonus at 3 months
  4. $100 bonus at 6 months
  5. $1700 total cash
  6. We pay for your mobile phone service for 6 months

2. What is this study?

Description

  1. Setup meeting in your home, 3 hours

    2. We’ll talk about how you make and evolve your plans to get through the day, and all the things you prepare for both kids’ activities (like sports or music) and household activities (like shopping).

  2. Smart phones

    3. We will provide smart phones with both phone service and unlimited mobile internet for every family member. You will be able to keep your current phone numbers. Phones will share your location using Global Positioning System (GPS). Families will need to return the phones after the study.

  3. 10-minute nightly phone-in

    4. Each night, an experimenter will ask about tomorrow’s plan, and about what actually happened today. We’ll arrange a flexible evening time that works with your schedule. Of course, no calls during vacation or whenever you need a break.

  4. 30-minute biweekly home visit

    5. Once each week, an experimenter will ask you to describe in more detail what caused the stressful parts of coordination. Again, we will completely work with your schedule and no calls during vacation or whenever you need a break.

  5. Midpoint and exit interviews, 3 hours each

    6. After three and six months, we will interview you in your homes and ask you to describe in more detail some of the events we have observed.

  6. Daily plan changes

    7. To understand when and how you communicate about your plans, we’ll note your calls and text messages that help you coordinate. We’ll also set up a way to take pictures of what you write on your family and personal calendars.

3. Does my family qualify?

To qualify

  1. You must live within a 10-minute drive of Pittsburgh PA
  2. Both parents must work at least 35 hours per week
  3. Neither parent can work from home
  4. You have at least 1 child 9-15 years old
  5. Both parents must currently be avid mobile phone users

4. What should we do now?

If you are interested, and your family qualifes, then please complete our preliminary survey. This survey will help us find the families with the best fit.

The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete.

We'll choose families in the next month, and notify you with the contact information you provide in the survey.
Carnegie Mellon | Human-Computer Interaction Institute