Researching Daily Life: A Guide to Experience Sampling and Daily Diary Methods

Paul J. Silvia is the Lucy Spinks Excellence Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he has been conducting experience sampling and daily diary research since the days when Palm Pilots were high-tech. He has studied daily life experiences in many clinical and community groups, including older adults, veterans, parents adjudicated for child maltreatment, and adults with depression, ADHD, or PTSD. In addition to self-report projects, he has conducted experience sampling studies that integrate neuroimaging and ambulatory cardiac monitoring.

Katherine N. Cotter is a postdoctoral fellow at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work emphasizes the study of aesthetics and the arts in people’s everyday environments, using both experience-sampling and daily diary techniques. Her recent work involves field research within art museums to illuminate people’s aesthetic experiences within the museum context.