On May 11, 2023, the Social Science Section of the Dutch Statistical Society hosted a meeting at Leiden University, with the topic

Experience sampling method Day

Empirical developments in repeated assessment of individuals in their natural environment

Ecological Momentary assessment (EMA), also referred to Experience Sampling Method (ESM), is becoming increasingly popular. And with good reason: Obtaining information on single subjects is valuable. A precursor of such EMA is a longitudinal design, where only three to approximately six measurements are obtained from each subject. Now, with smart phones almost universally available, it has become relatively easy to obtain large amounts of information from single subjects, much more than six. But: How should you design such studies? How many times a day should you measure? What kind response (continuous or discrete) should you work with? Many questions exist about such studies.

Our symposium was about how such studies can be designed and about the type of analyses that reveal new insights from these large amounts of data.