Adaptive experience sampling designs: The unifying A-ESM framework

Adaptive designs can help researchers or practitioners using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to evade the trade-off between participant burden and data quality/quantity. However, the field currently lacks a unified framework, inhibiting methodological progress and translation to practice. The A-ESM framework, including four characterizing dimensions (time, source, target, and control) and the goal-component of adaptivity, aims to facilitate systematic methodological discussions of adaptive designs, and to support ESM researchers and practitioners in attempts to optimize their data collection. Important considerations in the application of the framework are illustrated using practical examples in the context of research and clinical practice.