Using the Experience Sampling Method in Gerontological Social Work

This research note examines some advantages and drawbacks of using Experience Sampling Method (ESM) for the study of gerontological social work and other related fields of social and health services. ESM typically requires participants to respond to signals from electronic pagers at randomly determined intervals. In response to these, participants are expected to fill out a short self-report about their activities, as well as of their thoughts and feelings of these activities. ESM is, compared to conventional methods of observation (when people know that they are being studied and may behave differently from normal), a rather “unobtrusive” method, and ESM-data does not, unlike conventional survey-data, rely on retrospective information.