ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, researchers have increasingly used the experience sampling method (ESM; cf. Hektner, Schmidt, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2007) as a methodological research strategy to examine a wide variety of research questions in occupational health psychology (OHP) and related fields. This methodological approach is also referred to as event-sampling method (Reis & Gable, 2000), ecological momentary assessment (Weiss, Nicholas, & Daus, 1999), or diary method (Bolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, 2003). Basically, the ESM approach aims at assessing people’s experiences and behaviors as well as everyday events and situational conditions in situ, or as Bolger at al. (2003) stated it: “capturing life as it is lived” (p. 579). In this chapter, we will use the term ESM for this broader range of approaches that are comprised of event-sampling studies, ecological momentary assessments, and diary studies.
