Yes, you can contact us via support@motusresearch.io.

Yes. This website provides more information about MOTUS. Depending on the study, there may also be another website that provides more details about the specific research.

Yes. Click here to browse and watch MOTUS instructional videos.

Try reinstalling the app and restarting your smart device. If this does not work, contact MOTUS support via support@motusresearch.io.

The Assistant guides you through the time diary with notifications that explain the steps you need to take to register an activity. The Assistant is active by default, but you can toggle this off or on by tapping or clicking the Assistant icon at the bottom left corner of your time diary screen.

Check if you have an active internet connection. If it still doesn’t work, contact MOTUS support via support@motusresearch.io.

Scientific research done by the Research Group TOR of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and/or the spin-off hbits is carried out independently. When another institution performs a study through MOTUS, this independence needs to be proven. Often, the Research Group TOR or hbits is part of the research consortium.

A MOTUS study is conducted by the Research Group TOR of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and/or hbits. Some studies are conducted in collaboration with other institutions, governmental departments and research groups from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and other universities.

You can participate by logging in on the MOTUS web or mobile application. Use the username and password provided in the invitation letter or the email you received. Once you log in, you will see the tasks within the study. Tap or click on a task and get started.

If you want to use the web application, click the Log in button in the upper right corner to get started.

The phases within a study depend on the study itself. Typical phases require filling out questionnaires and keeping time diaries. The use of sensors to collect data depends on your consent.

Most of the studies will be done entirely online without the help of an interviewer. All tasks will appear on your Research Overview page. If you need help or support, you can send an email to support@motusresearch.io or call the designated telephone number for the research, if provided.

Studies take place continuously. For scientific purposes, we kindly ask that you participate during the period we have indicated in the letter or email we’ve sent you.

Studies differ because they might involve different phases. A questionnaire takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. A time diary takes about 15 minutes per day to complete.

There are various roles possible: being an individual participant, being part of a group (eg. a household or organisation) or being part of a research panel.

When you participate as an individual, you are invited to participate for a one-time study. You’re answers are anonymized after the collection of the data.

When you participate as a group member you participate in relation to other group members. This can mean that the research tasks are synchronised, but also that data can be shared between group members. After the study the linkage between the members is stored, but the data are anonymized.

When you participate as a panel member you are/can be invited for more studies in the future. Your data is pseudonymized so that answers given in the past can be related. Your personal data is stored in the BEHAVE platform.

Studies can be conducted on an individual basis or on a group-level basis. An example is a group that consists of household members. For these types of studies, a reference person is appointed. The reference person starts the study by composing the group.

In a household study, interactions between the household members provide information about daily life. Examples are how people spend their time together or in relation to each other. Each study has its own criteria for the inclusion of household members (e.g. aged-based).

Not by default. However, group members can share their credentials.

No, basically no one but you can see your entries.

The goal is to include all eligible group members. Eligibility depends on the inclusion criteria of the study; however, participation is voluntary. All insights are valuable, so we ask group members who can participate to proceed in doing so.

BEHAVE is a platform that hosts and manages research panels.

MOTUS is a data collection platform developed by the Research Group TOR (www.torvub.be) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and the Spin-Off hbits (www.hbits.io). Depending on the study respondents respondents are asked to complete questionnaires and time diaries. Also sensor data can be collected. Respondents participate via a mobile and/or a web app.

MOTUS uses questionnaires, time diaries, and sensors to collect data, the last of which requires your consent.

No, this is not possible in general. Depending on the survey it might be an option.

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions that aims to collect information from a respondent. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions.

A time diary is a research instrument that records daily activities, which is typically completed for a period of 24 hours during which you record all daily activities. Recording an activity involves logging its beginning and ending time, if any other activity was taking place at the same time, and other information such as where it happened and with whom you did the activity.

Administrative data consists of known information about someone and can be merged into a dataset before or after the study. The use of administrative data depends on your consent or on ethical approval if collected beforehand.

Sensor data are data collected by a device that detects analogue information and renders this into digital data. These sensors can detect physical elements related to a person’s activities, and the data collected are interpreted and linked to the respondent’s MOTUS account.

In panel research, respondents are invited to multiple studies. Panel members allow the reuse of their personal data (i.e. personal information, contact details) for future invitations to new studies. They also allow the reuse of study data within the boundaries of a new research.

Yes. MOTUS is accessible via common website browsers. MOTUS only supports browsers that are recently updated. Internet Explorer is not a supported browser. Note that you need an Internet connection to access MOTUS.

Yes. The MOTUS app is available on smartphones and tablets using iOS and Android operating systems. You can find the MOTUS app in the App Store or Google Play Store. Note that you need an internet connection to access MOTUS.

Yes. You can use the web app and mobile app interchangeably and on any number of devices. Note that devices need to have an active Internet connection to synchronise your data.

Yes. Go to the App Store and download MOTUS.

Yes. Go to the Play Store and download MOTUS.

No. MOTUS is not available for smartphones and tablets with a Windows operating system.

Yes. An internet connection is needed during the use of MOTUS.

Limited data will be used to send over the data to the MOTUS-servers. If you want to reduce the data usage to the absolute minimum we advise using MOTUS with a WiFi connection only.

Yes. As soon as you have an active Internet connection, data will be synchronised. This applies to both the web app and mobile app.

No, you will not lose any data. If you have deleted the app or if you had to reinstall it, all data will immediately appear again after your device(s) have synchronised to our servers. Do note that this only applies to the data that have been sent to the MOTUS servers. You need to have an active Internet connection to synchronise your data.

No, it is not possible to log activities offline. For optimization and security reasons, MOTUS will not store data on your smart devices without an active internet connection.

Yes. The MOTUS app takes that into account.

Yes. Multiple activity logging options are available. Some participants use the app time tracker of MOTUS to log activities real-time, while others log activities immediately and complete the detailed information required at a later stage. There are also participants who prefer to log a series of activities a few times a day.

Try to find the app following these links for iOS or Android. The app stores show the apps that can be installed on the version of your smart device. If your device isn’t updated or is too old, the app might not be available for you.

The app has been successfully tested for Android devices with version 7 and higher. For Apple devices (iOS operation systems) version iOS 12.0 or higher is required.

If you install the app on your smartphone, you will only be asked for permission to send push notifications. Other permissions, e.g. access to your camera or your location, is not asked by the app at any time. Android and iOS may include camera or location access by default in their app permission lists. However, the time usage app expressly does not access or use these functions.

You can participate by logging in to the MOTUS web or mobile application. Use the username and password provided in the invitation letter or email you received. Once you log in, you will see the phases within the study. Tap or click on a phase and get started.

If you have forgotten your password, you can use the “Forgot your password?” function by entering your username. You will then receive an e-mail and you can set a new password.

You can find the “Forgot your password?” function both on the smartphone app’s login screen and on the browser ’s login page . If you need further support, please contact support@motusresearch.io. You can find the contact details here.

This happens automatically. MOTUS will inform you about the completion of a phase and when the next phase is available.

You can change your email address at any time in the app menu.

No. A change of your entries after sending the data of a questionnaire is not possible. You can still view your information by clicking on the eye symbol next to the survey part, but you can no longer change it. You can also recognise this by the fact that the completed part of the survey is greyed out.

Please click here to go to the guidelines.

Please click here to go to the guidelines.

Yes, although we recommend using the web application to answer the questionnaires.

MOTUS will let you know when it’s time to start filling out your time diary.

This is up to you. Multiple activity logging options are available. Some participants use the app time tracker of MOTUS to log activities real-time, while others log activities immediately and complete the detailed information required at a later stage. There are also participants who prefer to log a series of activities a few times a day.

We limit the time diary to one secondary activity in order to prevent us from over-questioning you, but still have a fine-grained data log to be able to understand society at its best. If you have to choose, please choose the secondary activity that you consider most important.

Contact MOTUS support via support@motusresearch.io.

Yes, but we do not recommend this. If you still want to restart your time diary, contact MOTUS support via support@motusresearch.io..

For scientific reasons, we ask that you start the time diary at the moment we’ve communicated.

This should not happen. Try to log off and log in again, and if necessary, remove and reinstall the app. If this does not work, please contact support@motusresearch.io.

There are three ways you can be invited to a research, one of which is an invitation by letter. Throughout your participation in the study, we do not send letters. We communicate with you via email and/or notifications.

Yes. MOTUS will send you emails to inform and remind you of the research phases you need to go through.

Yes, but it depends on the study if notifications are active or not.

For example, to remind you to document your activities in the diary during your diary days, we occasionally send push notifications or e-mails. You will not receive any notifications or advertising from us beyond your participation in our studies. Notifications are not absolutely necessary to operate the app and participate in the survey. Therefore, if you don’t want to receive reminders, you can also turn them off in the app’s menu.

There are various options to become invited for a MOTUS study. Sometimes, the invitation is sent by letter or by email. Other times, it’s possible to subscribe yourself via a website to receive an invitation. Please make sure to check your Spam or Promotions folder in case your email invite got lost in these folders. If you still can’t find it, you can contact us via support@motusresearch.io.

There are 2 ways to unsubscribe:(1)Tap or click the Unsubscribe link found in the emails we sent you, (2) Go to My Settings under the main menu of the app and toggle off ‘Emails.’ While you can unsubscribe at any time, we don’t recommend this because MOTUS cannot inform or remind you about the remaining research phases of this study.

Check your junk, spam or promotion folder. If you cannot find the email there, please contact us at support@motusresearch.io.