. 2016 Jun 2;2(1):e28. doi: 10.2196/publichealth.5408

Table 2.

mHealth survey development challenges.

Problem	Implication	Potential solution
Institutional review board (IRB) approval process	Multiple IRBs and delays were challenges to both initial drafts of methods, and updated methods and instruments	Earlier engagement with IRBs and allotment of more time for ethical reviews and approvals
		Obtain ethical reviews from a centralized IRB process
Unique user identifications	Limits data collection options, such as one device for one collector only	Allow more users access to a single device (eg, a “generic” user ID log in)
Securing device	Although securing the device is meant as a security measure, all data are lost when the device sleeps, is turned off, or the application is accidentally closed	This security measure could be removed, or the device configured to never sleep^a
Survey is too long	Respondents and collectors felt the instrument is too long and responses won't be valid	The survey will be revised for length and complexity of item response formatting (eg, simpler Likert scales)

^aThis remains a key training and quality improvement issue.