Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Experience sampling method (ESM) is a quasi-naturalistic method that involves signaling research participants at repeated times throughout the day and asking them to report on the nature and quality of their experience. The method has been applied to study an array of psychological phenomena that include the study of behaviors, emotional experience, interpersonal processes, personality, physical symptoms, and physiological responses. Experience-sampling procedures stand in contrast to standard self-report procedures, such as traditional questionnaire and diary methods. Although a form of self-report, experience sampling methods do not rely on the need for respondent retrospection or memory. ESM was developed as a tool to study daily events and evolved because of the limitations of other methodologies in explaining the range of situational circumstances experienced in everyday life. A fundamental benefit of ESM is that it permits the examination of reported events and experiences as they occur in their natural context. In experience sampling, people report what is presently occurring, often called a momentary experience (e.g., “How do you feel right now?) . Well-designed ESM studies can answer questions regarding aggregates of experiences over time, temporal patterns of experiences, and the factors affecting changes in these experiences. For each type of question, ESM studies ... log in or subscribe to read full text