Surfacing delivers ecological momentary assessment in a mobile app that participants actually use. No custom development. No server costs. No PII exposure. Just structured, exportable, condition-specific behavioral data.
EMA is the gold standard for behavioral data collection precisely because it eliminates retrospective bias. Surfacing prompts participants to log episodes as they occur — in the natural environment, at the moment of occurrence.
EMA studies consistently show 40–60% divergence between real-time and retrospective self-report for high-affect states. Surfacing closes that gap.
No server receives participant data. No account stores PII. The app collects nothing Surfacing can access. Data lives on the participant's device and is exported only when they choose, to whom they choose.
Participant data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) on the participant's personal device. No data is transmitted to any server. The research team receives exports directly from participants, with no third-party intermediary.
Define exactly the fields you need for your study. Rating scales, categorical selects, numeric wheels, free text — any combination. Build a condition that matches your protocol, not a default clinical set.
Custom conditions appear alongside standard clinical conditions. Participants can track multiple conditions simultaneously — useful for comorbidity research.
Every export contains structured JSON — no parsing HTML tables or PDF scraping. Each entry includes timestamp, condition type, all field values, skill data, and environmental context. Ready for R, Python, SPSS, or any analysis pipeline.
The encrypted HTML export file's payload is standard JSON embedded in the file — extractable with a single decryption call if you have the participant's password.
Every participant export is a self-contained, encrypted HTML file. The payload inside is structured JSON — reproducible, versioned, and analysis-ready.
Use Surfacing as the daily measurement instrument across intervention phases. Episode frequency, intensity, and skill success data provide continuous outcome metrics beyond snapshot assessments like PHQ-9 or GAD-7.
Surfacing's skill logging captures which DBT, CBT, and ACT skills participants actually deploy, in what contexts, and with what self-rated success. Directly supports between-session skill generalization research.
Participants can track multiple conditions simultaneously. Study how PTSD and BPD episodes co-occur, or how ADHD symptoms interact with anxiety — with timestamped precision across weeks and months.
Surfacing captures environmental context (location type, social context, time of day) alongside symptom data — enabling correlational analysis between situational factors and episode severity without device sensor access.
Participants accumulate structured episode data over time with no app subscription cost. The app stores indefinitely on-device. Exports can be collected at any interval — weekly, monthly, at study end.
Commercial EMA platforms can cost thousands per study. Surfacing is free for participants and generates exportable structured data without any researcher-side server infrastructure — ideal for thesis-level research budgets.
Every research context carries its own regulatory and ethical requirements. We offer customizable ways to work with researchers to conform to and apply across the specific standards that govern your study. Below are the frameworks we can help you align with.
The Common Rule governs federally funded research involving human subjects. Because Surfacing collects no PII and stores data solely on participant devices, IRB applications can accurately state that no data passes through a third-party server. We can provide a technical summary document suitable for inclusion in your IRB submission.
The HIPAA Research Exception permits covered entities to use or disclose PHI for research under specific conditions, including IRB waiver or preparation documentation. Because Surfacing exports are participant-controlled and peer-to-peer, the standard covered entity / business associate framework is simplified — we can help you document this correctly.
FDA-regulated studies require that electronic records be trustworthy, reliable, and audit-trailed. Surfacing's on-device audit log captures all entry creation, modification, and export events with ISO timestamps. For studies requiring strict Part 11 conformance, we offer a research-specific build with enhanced immutability and audit features.
NIH's 2023 Data Management and Sharing Policy requires that scientific data from NIH-funded research be made available. Surfacing exports structured JSON compatible with data dictionary documentation, and we can help you prepare de-identified datasets conforming to NIMH Data Archive or similar repository requirements.
For studies that include EU participants, GDPR's research exemptions (Art. 89) apply to processing personal data for scientific research under appropriate safeguards. Surfacing's architecture — no server, no collection, all data on participant device — is well-suited for GDPR-compliant research designs. We can advise on data minimization and participant rights documentation.
ICH GCP establishes standards for the design, conduct, recording, and reporting of clinical trials to ensure data integrity and participant protection. For clinical trial use cases, we offer enhanced audit trail exports, investigator site documentation, and can work with your sponsor or CRO to validate the Surfacing data collection instrument for trial use.
APA's ethics standards for research require appropriate informed consent, data protection, and participant welfare safeguards. Surfacing supports these standards by collecting no identifiable information without participant initiation, giving participants complete control over their data, and never transmitting psychological data to any third party without explicit user action.
PCORI-funded comparative effectiveness research requires patient engagement and rigorous methodology. Surfacing's EMA approach aligns with PCORI standards for capturing patient-reported outcomes in naturalistic settings. We can help customize condition-specific field sets to match PCORI-approved outcome measures and facilitate patient-engaged study design.
Regulatory requirements vary depending on your funding source, participant population, institution, and country of operation. Use the contact form below to describe your study and we'll help you identify the relevant frameworks and how Surfacing can be configured to meet them. We've worked with protocols under multiple simultaneous standards and can navigate the overlap.
Nothing on this page constitutes legal, compliance, or IRB advice. Regulatory determinations are the responsibility of the researcher, their institution, and qualified counsel. Contact us to discuss your specific protocol requirements.
Whether you're a graduate student writing your first protocol or a faculty PI with an active grant, we want to help you use Surfacing effectively.