McCambridge Jim, O'Donnell Orla, Godfrey Christine, Khadjesari Zarnie, Linke Stuart, Murray Elizabeth, Wallace Paul
Centre for Research on Drugs & Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
BMC Res Notes. 2010 Jun 18;3:172. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-3-172.
The practical and methodological challenges inherent in online behaviour change studies are both novel and complex. We relate our experiences of estimating and managing information technology (IT) research and intervention costs in an ongoing internet trial in the hope that others will find this information useful.
Actual IT costs were approximately twice those that had been originally estimated by external contractors. These original estimates for IT costs allowed little scope for the identification of new needs, which was intrinsic to the iterative nature of the research enterprise.
Making greater provision for the uncertain nature of these costs in future studies is a key practical lesson for the planning of future online behaviour change studies.
在线行为改变研究中固有的实践和方法挑战既新颖又复杂。我们讲述在一项正在进行的互联网试验中估算和管理信息技术（IT）研究及干预成本的经验，希望其他人能发现这些信息有用。
实际IT成本约为外部承包商最初估计成本的两倍。这些最初的IT成本估计几乎没有为识别新需求留出空间，而新需求是研究工作迭代性质所固有的。
在未来研究中为这些成本的不确定性留出更多余地，是未来在线行为改变研究规划的关键实践经验。
