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The Feasibility of Remote Measurement of Infant Sleep and Motor Development
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  • Aaron DeMasi,
  • Mali Waugh,
  • Wei Wang,
  • Sarah Berger
Aaron DeMasi
City University of New York The Graduate Center

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Mali Waugh
City University of New York The Graduate Center
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Wei Wang
City University of New York The Graduate Center
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Sarah Berger
College of Staten Island
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Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic shut-down of in-person research laboratories, remote data collection became mainstream in developmental psychology research. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of two remote data collection methods for studying sleep and motor development in infancy and the relationship between the two. We asked 1,371 parents of infants aged 4 to 17 months who used the Nanit baby monitor to take the on-line Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) about their infants’ motor experience. Nanit uses auto-videosomnography and computer vision algorithms to calculate and report summary statistics of infants’ sleep. Nanit replicated all expected developmental trends in sleep, while the SWYC only replicated some, appearing to underestimate infants at the transition between motor milestones. However, we replicated some well-established findings regarding the relationship between sleep and motor development using both measures, suggesting that both Nanit and the SWYC can feasibly be used for remote data collection, especially if some modifications were made to how researchers explained using the SWYC to caregivers. Researchers should consider alternatives to traditional research methods not only when in-person participation is difficult or impossible, but also when large samples are needed and/or simple measurement tools are sufficient.
01 Mar 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
18 Aug 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
14 Sep 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
21 Nov 20231st Revision Received
22 Nov 2023Submission Checks Completed
22 Nov 2023Assigned to Editor