037 Experience Sampling Method

Behaviors, interactions, thoughts, or feelings self-reported in real time when signaled

• Experience sampling requires participants to document something specific when signaled by a device alarm.

• Before smartphones, participants were signaled by pagers, hence the common nickname of “beeper study.”

• Behaviors, interactions, thoughts, or feelings are guided by clear instructions and entered into a pre-established form, often with photos in a diary or journal.

• Technology allows for documenting and sending photos, text, or audio entries through smartphones.

• This is a form of design ethnography, collecting strategic samples of life in place of in-person immersion by researchers.

• Samples can give the designer a comprehensive picture across time or individuals for any particular design study.

• The method is useful in exploratory and generative phases of design research.

See also   Design Ethnography • Diary Studies • Photo Studies

Courtesy of www.mappiness.org.uk

The “Mappiness” project uses experience sampling to invite respondents to indicate their current feelings and situation when paged, mapping how the environment affects people’s happiness.