Researching Daily Life: A Guide to Experience Sampling and Daily Diary Methods

A step-by-step guide to researching what people do in their everyday lives.

This practical, beginner-friendly book teaches readers how to do daily life research, which is the study of what people do in their ordinary environments in their everyday lives.

The basic approach is to collect data intensively over time, at least once a day for many days, in people’s natural environments rather than in research labs. Common methods include daily diaries, experience sampling, and ecological momentary assessment. Collectively, these methods trade off the control and precision of the lab for the texture, depth, and realism of the real world.

The book walks readers through the entire process of the research project, including first selecting a design and developing survey items, then collecting and cleaning data, and finally analyzing and disseminating the findings.

With example studies pulled from all areas of psychology, the book will provide students with the conceptual foundation and practical knowledge needed to examine psychological processes ‘up close’ in ways that experimental and survey methods can’t.