By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    UV damage to eyes
    Warning Signs of Long-Term UV Damage to Your Eyes
    December 9, 2021
    degree for healthcare job
    The Ultimate Healthcare Recruiting and Staffing Guidebook
    March 21, 2022
    medicare part d benefits
    Everything that You Need to Know About Medicare Part D
    August 15, 2022
    Latest News
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
    The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
    May 22, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Conservatives: The Utah Health Exchange is Not a Model
    July 23, 2011
    Medical Malpractice Reform Losing Physician Support
    November 7, 2011
    Hospitals Aim to Apply Direct Payments of Care Delivery to Increase Resources
    August 28, 2012
    Latest News
    Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
    June 25, 2025
    When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
    June 20, 2025
    Preventing Contamination In Healthcare Facilities Starts With Hygiene
    June 15, 2025
    Strengthening Healthcare Systems Through Clinical and Administrative Career Development
    June 13, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: ResearchKit: The Tip of the Iceberg
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > ResearchKit: The Tip of the Iceberg
BusinessTechnology

ResearchKit: The Tip of the Iceberg

mikevans
Last updated: April 27, 2015 8:00 am
mikevans
Share
4 Min Read
Image of an Iceberg
SHARE

In March, during the much-anticipated Apple Watch keynote, Apple carved out a few minutes to announce ResearchKit, a system to enable faster and easier healthcare research. The announcement was received positively, some even saying that the announcement was bigger news than the Apple Watch itself!

Contents
What It IsWhat It Is NotThe Iceberg

In March, during the much-anticipated Apple Watch keynote, Apple carved out a few minutes to announce ResearchKit, a system to enable faster and easier healthcare research. The announcement was received positively, some even saying that the announcement was bigger news than the Apple Watch itself! Within a week, one of the early apps, MyHeart Counts, had enrolled 11,000-patients, an enrollment pace and efficiency unheard of in the healthcare community. Without a doubt, Apple has the opportunity to bring the power of numbers to healthcare.

What It Is

ResearchKit is an SDK (Software Development Kit) containing presentation logic and user interface components for gathering healthcare research data on an iPhone. It can gain informed patient consent, present surveys (whether existing clinically-validated surveys, or novel surveys for a particular study), and also use the sensors on the device to do things like measure vocal tremor, conduct a 6-minute talk test, and measure motor reaction time.

Building a new research app with ResearchKit-powered is a fairly standard mobile app development project. The ResearchKit components certainly accelerate the process, however you will still need an iOS developer, and you will need to follow all the usual software development steps of requirements gathering, design, implementation, stabilization, and then releasing through the App Store. The SDK was recently open-sourced on GitHub. Since most of the SDK relates to the user interface, ResearchKit really only helps with iPhone app development, which some have pointed out may give rise to a sample bias.

More Read

Enhance Brand Awareness Through Meme Marketing
Telomeres Point to New Osteoarthritis Therapies
Breakthroughs in Gene Targeting in Mouse Can Help Humans
HR Must Navigate Polarizing Views in Healthcare Workplaces
How Webinars and Online Courses Are Helping to Make Healthcare Greener
Image of an Iceberg

(Original source: National Ocean Service Image Gallery)

What It Is Not

More important than the development of the mobile app, though, it all of the infrastructure behind the app that allows the data to be securely transmitted, stored, aggregated, and analyzed by researchers. In systems of this kind, the scale and complexity of the underlying data service layer is usually considerably larger than the user-facing data collection app. This is especially true in healthcare, given the compliance overhead imposed by regulations like HIPAA.

On this dimension, ResearchKit has no immediate answer. Given Apple’s privacy-centric stance on data collection and aggregation and the sensitivity of the data, they are unlikely to build a cloud service offering for ResearchKit. As such, it will be up to individual researchers to build their own systems, at least until other software vendors move in to fill this need.

The Iceberg

Much like the proverbial iceberg where only 10% of the whole is visible, Apple’s ResearchKit is a beautiful, if small, slice of user interface that hides a large and complex underlying platform needed to actually deploy healthcare research apps.

TAGGED:ResearchKit
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

women dental care
What Is a Smile Makeover and How Much Does It Cost?
Dental health
June 30, 2025
HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps
Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
June 25, 2025
recovering from injury
Rebuilding After Injury: Path to Physical and Emotional Recovery
News
June 22, 2025
scientist using microscope
When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
Global Healthcare
June 18, 2025

You Might also Like

There’s More to HealthCare Than Doctors and Hospitals

July 28, 2013
Health Care and Digital Influencers on Twitter
BusinesseHealthSocial Media

List of Health Care Social Media and Digital Influencers on Twitter

August 4, 2014
Spare parts a jacket for Joleen Chambers
Medical Devices

Spare Parts

July 23, 2012
healthcare marketing
BusinesseHealthHealth Reform

Why Healthcare Needs to Be Communicated in 6 Words or Less

April 29, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?