Designing Ambulatory Assessment Studies

Ambulatory assessment is an increasingly popular approach for studying people out in the real world of their daily lives. This workshop is designed to set researchers in behavioral and health sciences up for success in the design and implementation of ambulatory assessment protocols for grant proposals and research projects.

Instructor:
Aidan Wright, PhD (University of Michigan)

Workshop Dates and Times:
Monday, June 24th, 10:00am – 3:30pm ET
Tuesday, June 25th, 10:00am – 3:30pm ET

Workshop Format:
Two-Day Synchronous Online Workshop

Ambulatory assessment, which encompasses several more specific techniques like ecological momentary assessment, experience sampling methodology, daily diaries, passive sensing, and more, is an increasingly popular technique because of three major strengths:

  1. Data are collected in the participants natural environment, such that the context is their real life (e.g., real-life stressors, their actual romantic partner, on site at their job)

  2. Data are collected as or very near in time to when events are occurring, thereby increasing greater fidelity to actual events.

  3. Data are collected at various points along a process, allowing for modeling dynamic or fluctuating thoughts, feelings, behavior, physiology, and context.

Despite the popularity and strengths of these techniques, they remain challenging to implement well due to the complexity of study design.

This 2-day course is designed to provide the basics of good ambulatory assessment study design. Topics covered include: Developing time-based questions, sampling types (e.g., random, fixed, event-contingent), sampling frequency, questionnaire design, psychometrics, participant burden, participant engagement, incentive schedules, data quality monitoring, data acquisition options (e.g., devices, software), common challenges, and troubleshooting. Exercises will be used to promote comprehension and give hands on experience navigating study design choice points (e.g., The “3 D’s of EMA design”).

What you’ll learn

  • Sampling Strategy - Learn how to choose the sampling strategy that will match your research question. Master the 3 Ds of sampling: density, depth, and duration. Know when you need a time or an event-based design.

  • Participant Engagement - Learn to motivate and engage participants to maximize compliance and avoid attrition. Know what to expect from participants from different populations. Shift to thinking about participants as collaborators.

  • Data Considerations – Master the basics of intensive longitudinal data. Familiarize yourself with key analytic considerations that follow from ambulatory assessment design decisions.

  • Survey Design – Learn what types of questions to ask and how many of them you can ask. Expand your understanding of psychometric principles to intensive longitudinal data.

Syllabus

Day 1 - Conceptual Foundations

  1. Defining Ambulatory Assessment

  2. Conceptual Background

  3. Data Structure and Interpretation

  4. The “3 Ds” - Density, Depth, and Duration

  5. Into to Passive Sensing

Day 2 – Practical Application

  1. Compliance, Attrition, and Reactivity

  2. Data Management

  3. Survey Design

  4. Software

  5. Miscellaneous Analytic Considerations

Registration Options

Designing Ambulatory Assessment Studies

  • Professional
  • $599
  • Baseline Price for Faculty,
    Staff, and Other Professionals
  • Click Register Below
  • Trainee
  • $599 $399
  • 33% Discount for
    Students and Postdocs
  • Use code "TRAINEE" at Checkout

Combo 1: Designing Ambulatory Assessment Studies + Multilevel Modeling for Longitudinal Data

  • Professional
  • $1423 $1139
  • Baseline Price for Faculty,
    Staff, and Other Professionals
  • 20% Combination Discount
  • Click Register Below
  • Trainee
  • $1139 $759
  • 33% Discount for
    Students and Postdocs
  • 20% Combination Discount
  • Use code "TRAINEE" at Checkout

Combo 2: Designing Ambulatory Assessment Studies + Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling

  • Professional
  • $1423 $1139
  • Baseline Price for Faculty,
    Staff, and Other Professionals
  • 20% Combination Discount
  • Click Register Below
  • Trainee
  • $1139 $759
  • 33% Discount for
    Students and Postdocs
  • 20% Combination Discount
  • Use code "TRAINEE" at Checkout

 FAQs

  • This workshop is specially designed for researchers in the behavioral and health sciences who want to pose sophisticated questions about human functioning in the naturalistic context of daily life.

  • Beginner

  • No specific prior knowledge is necessary. Basic research design experience is recommended.

  • Participants will be provided with a curated reading list and article pdfs.