Research Ethics

driftoff is a research project.

driftoff is a prototype app to support your sleep. It was developed in collaboration with university students. This project is led by Dan Archer, a Public Health PhD candidate at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington.

By using this app you will help to give feedback about its usability.

This research has been approved by the Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics Committee (2024/HE000074).

How can you help?

This project is seeking to understand how to make mobile health apps more appealing. The information from this project will be used to make this app better, as well as in my PhD dissertation, publications and conferences.

• You’ll receive a survey about your sleep and your current wellbeing today. You’ll be asked these questions again in 7 days and in 14 days, along with an opportunity to provide feedback about your experience with the app.
• The first 20 people to complete all three surveys will receive a $30 voucher.
• Your usage of the app will also be recorded.
• You may also be invited to be interviewed about your experience. The interview will take 30 minutes and you don’t have to be interviewed if you don’t want to. You can read the information sheet for interviews here. Interview participants will receive a voucher worth $50.

You can withdraw your participation at any time by closing and uninstalling the app. You can also request a copy of your data, or to have your data deleted through the app or by emailing the researcher. This must be done before 01 September 2025.

What will happen to the information you give?

This research is confidential. This means that the researchers will be aware of your identity but this will never be revealed in any way. All data is kept encrypted on approved servers.

All identifiable data held about you will be destroyed by 31 December 2025. All data will be destroyed by 01 September 2030.

You can read about the data collected and the privacy policy here.

If you have any questions or problems, who can you contact?

If you have any questions, either now or in the future, please feel free to contact:

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research you may raise this with the HEC Convenor, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, by emailing human-ethics@vuw.ac.nz or phoning the University’s service centre on 0800 04 04 04.