Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity
IntroductionDelayed responses are a common yet often overlooked aspect of participant compliance in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. This study investigated whether response delays introduce selection bias in the moments captured by EMA.MethodsParticipants (n = 339) self-reported thei...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1503411/full |
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| author | Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Meynard J. Toledo Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Joshua M. Smyth Pey-Jiuan Lee Sarah Goldstein Olivia Pomeroy Arthur A. Stone Arthur A. Stone |
| author_facet | Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Meynard J. Toledo Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Joshua M. Smyth Pey-Jiuan Lee Sarah Goldstein Olivia Pomeroy Arthur A. Stone Arthur A. Stone |
| author_sort | Stefan Schneider |
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| description | IntroductionDelayed responses are a common yet often overlooked aspect of participant compliance in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. This study investigated whether response delays introduce selection bias in the moments captured by EMA.MethodsParticipants (n = 339) self-reported their physical activity behaviors using EMA five times a day over 7 days while wearing a continuous physical activity monitor. The continuous activity monitor data provided an objective reference value to evaluate potential biases in delayed EMA self-reports.ResultsResults showed that participants were significantly more likely to delay EMA responses when they were prompted during higher levels of physical activity, and they subsequently reduced their activity levels, postponing their response until they were in a significantly less active state. There was no significant evidence that response delays systematically biased the levels of EMA reported activities, although delayed responses were associated with significantly more random errors in EMA reports (with small effect sizes).DiscussionThe results suggest that respondents self-select the moments for answering EMA surveys based on their current activity levels, but brief response delays do not translate into marked reductions in the quality of EMA data. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-458de0c5a99842dfbe32bd3bbc4df0942025-01-03T06:47:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-01-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.15034111503411Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activityStefan Schneider0Stefan Schneider1Stefan Schneider2Meynard J. Toledo3Doerte U. Junghaenel4Doerte U. Junghaenel5Doerte U. Junghaenel6Joshua M. Smyth7Pey-Jiuan Lee8Sarah Goldstein9Olivia Pomeroy10Arthur A. Stone11Arthur A. Stone12Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesLeonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesLeonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesIntroductionDelayed responses are a common yet often overlooked aspect of participant compliance in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. This study investigated whether response delays introduce selection bias in the moments captured by EMA.MethodsParticipants (n = 339) self-reported their physical activity behaviors using EMA five times a day over 7 days while wearing a continuous physical activity monitor. The continuous activity monitor data provided an objective reference value to evaluate potential biases in delayed EMA self-reports.ResultsResults showed that participants were significantly more likely to delay EMA responses when they were prompted during higher levels of physical activity, and they subsequently reduced their activity levels, postponing their response until they were in a significantly less active state. There was no significant evidence that response delays systematically biased the levels of EMA reported activities, although delayed responses were associated with significantly more random errors in EMA reports (with small effect sizes).DiscussionThe results suggest that respondents self-select the moments for answering EMA surveys based on their current activity levels, but brief response delays do not translate into marked reductions in the quality of EMA data.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1503411/fullecological momentary assessment (EMA)ambulatory assessment (AA)physical activityresponse delaycomplianceexperience sampling method (ESM) |
| spellingShingle | Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Stefan Schneider Meynard J. Toledo Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Doerte U. Junghaenel Joshua M. Smyth Pey-Jiuan Lee Sarah Goldstein Olivia Pomeroy Arthur A. Stone Arthur A. Stone Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity Frontiers in Psychology ecological momentary assessment (EMA) ambulatory assessment (AA) physical activity response delay compliance experience sampling method (ESM) |
| title | Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity |
| title_full | Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity |
| title_fullStr | Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity |
| title_short | Do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment? Evidence from comparisons between self-reported and objective physical activity |
| title_sort | do delayed responses introduce bias in ecological momentary assessment evidence from comparisons between self reported and objective physical activity |
| topic | ecological momentary assessment (EMA) ambulatory assessment (AA) physical activity response delay compliance experience sampling method (ESM) |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1503411/full |
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