Researching body perception: towards an integration of quantitative and qualitative interdisciplinary approaches to address the multiplicity of bodily experiences

Cognitive neuroscience has attempted to understand the underlying functioning of one's body experience. This has resulted in standardised methods involving multisensory manipulations and measurable constructs. These approaches contribute to the important goal of creating a cumulative and reproducible science. However, they may sometimes fail to capture important yet complex and nuanced qualities of experience. We propose that combining qualitative methods employed in design research centered on body experiences, together with quantitative approaches from neuroscience and psychology, can yield a richer account without compromising quantitative rigour. This integration of quantitative and qualitative methods, we argue, may be particularly valuable when dealing with one's body perception. Without pretending to fundamentally solve methodological discrepancies between qualitative and quantitative approaches, we propose a conciliatory take. For this purpose, we provide a synthesis of tools and methods from design research that could be useful in three steps of the research inquiry: the experimental design, data collection, and data analysis. Our suggested mixed methods approach aims to account for individual differences, produce more nuanced insights, increase transparency, foster multidisciplinarity, and potentially speed progress in some aspects of the research program.