PERMEATE: A Pilot Study and a Protocol for Ethnographic Research on Meta-Attention

PERMEATE: A Pilot Study and a Protocol for Ethnographic Research on Meta-Attention This dataset comprises 7 csv files containing data from one-button clickers, used during an ethnographic self-study project on(meta-)attention during a silent retreat in May 2022, as part of the ERC funded project DISTRACT: The Political Economy of Distraction in Digitized Denmark. Participants in the study were instructed to track their distractions in vivo via the one-button clickers. The clickers are small enough to be kept in the pocket or worn as a wristband or necklace and equipped with a button vibrating when pressed to indicate a measurement. The devices allow for timestamping of self-reported distractions, saved in the device and available for subsequent export in the form of a csv-file. In the study, participants were asked to click once when experiencing a distraction, and twice when feeling an urge to use their phones. The variables in the csv files are structured as follows: Column 1: TimestampRecorded in ISO8601 format. All times are expressed in UTC, corresponding to two hours behind Central European Summer Time (CEST). Column 2: System time (ms)An internal system counter in milliseconds. This variable enables calculation of more precise intervals between consecutive button presses occurring within a short timeframe (a few seconds). Column 3: Press duration (ms)The duration of the button press, expressed in milliseconds. Data processing notes:Button presses are classified as single, double, or triple presses based on the interval between events. Intervals are calculated using the information in Columns 1 and 2. A threshold of 750 ms has been applied: if two presses occur within less than 750 ms, they are treated as part of the same sequence.