Abstract
BackgroundMobile phone call detail records (CDRs) are increasingly being used in health research. The location element in CDRs is used in various health geographic studies, for example, to track population movement and infectious disease transmission. Vast volumes of CDRs are held by multinational organizations, which may make them available for research under various data governance regimes. However, there is an identified lack of public engagement on using CDRs for health research to contribute to an ethically founded framework.ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore public views on the use of call detail records in health research.MethodsViews on using CDRs in health research were gained via a series of three public workshops (N=61) informed by a pilot workshop of 25 people. The workshops included an initial questionnaire to gauge participants’ prior views, discussion on health research using CDRs, and a final questionnaire to record workshop outcome views. The resulting data were analyzed for frequencies and emerging themes.ResultsAt the outset, most participants (66%, 40/61) knew that location data were collected by operators, but only 3% (2/61) knew they were being used for health research. Initially, the majority of the participants (62%, 38/61) was content for their anonymous CDRs to be used, and this increased (80%, 49/61) after the discussion explained that safeguards were in place. Participants highlighted that terms and conditions should be clearer, as should information to phone users on data collection, privacy safeguards, sharing, and uses in research.ConclusionsThis is the first known study exploring public views of using mobile phone CDRs in health research. It revealed a lack of knowledge among the public on uses of CDRs and indicated that people are generally amenable to the use of anonymized data for research, but they want to be properly informed and safeguarded. We recommend that public views be incorporated into an ethically founded framework for the use of CDRs in health research to promote awareness and social acceptability in data use.
Highlights
Mobile phone penetration is constantly rising and is predicted to exceed 5 billion users by 2019; the number of mobile connections already exceeds the world population at over 8 billion [1]
This is the first known study exploring public views of using mobile phone call detail records (CDRs) in health research. It revealed a lack of knowledge among the public on uses of CDRs and indicated that people are generally amenable to the use of anonymized data for research, but they want to be properly informed and safeguarded
We recommend that public views be incorporated into an ethically founded framework for the use of CDRs in health research to promote awareness and social acceptability in data use. (JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2019;7(1):e11730) doi:10.2196/11730
Summary
Background Mobile phone penetration is constantly rising and is predicted to exceed 5 billion users by 2019; the number of mobile connections already exceeds the world population at over 8 billion [1]. Call detail records (CDRs) are collected passively each time a mobile phone user connects to a mobile network, by either voice call or short message service (SMS) text message. The record generated includes the starting time of the call (or SMS text message), its duration, the caller’s and receiver’s phone numbers, and the locations of the activated towers. MNOs may make subsets of CDRs available for research under various data governance regimes [3], enabling the location element in CDRs to be used in a variety of health geographic studies, such as tracking population movement and infectious disease transmission, as shown in a recent review [4]. The location element in CDRs is used in various health geographic studies, for example, to track population movement and infectious disease transmission. There is an identified lack of public engagement on using CDRs for health research to contribute to an ethically founded framework
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
