Table 1 Comparison between active vs. passive digital assessments.

Proactive interaction with associated patient burden

Relatively unobtrusive operation with low patient burden

Specific duration of observation

Continuous measurement

Relatively small volume of data

Relatively large volume of data

Known context of data collection constrained to specific movements

Unknown context of data collection affected by unknown external factors

Can be combined with clinical assessments

Predominately unsupervised operation in a non-clinical setting

Effort-intensive to conduct longitudinally

Longitudinal observation by default

Episodic assessment of specific tasks

Real-life functioning of subjects

SoVs can be more easily recognized and examined systematically. Controlling of SoVs is feasible (see also precept 2).

SoVs are more difficult to identify and typically are more difficult to replicate. Controlling of SoVs is less feasible.