[Translate to Englisch:] Bild zeigt wie jemand mit dem Smartphone seine Mahlzeit fotografiert. Zu sehen ist nur die Hand und der Bildschirm auf dem Smartphone.

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)

Ecological Momentary Assessment refers to studies of behaviour, experience and also physiological processes in "real life" (vs. laboratory).

Ecological Momentary Assessment: Data collection in "real life"

EMA uses modern technology to record experiences and behaviour as accurately as possible in everyday life. Smartphones, trackers and sensors can be used to record diet, exercise and risk perception, for example, and in some cases even automatically.

We conduct studies in which, for example, we ask participants about their everyday lives using a smartphone app or have them record their own behaviour (e.g. their meals). This allows us to characterise the emotional signature of meals, for example - something that would be difficult to do in a retrospective survey.

Selected publications on studies with EMA design:

  • König, L. M., Koller, J. E., Villinger, K., Wahl, D. R., Ziesemer, K., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2021). Investigating the Relationship between Perceived Meal Colour Variety and Food Intake across Meal Types in a Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment. Nutrients, 13(3), 755. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030755
  • Villinger, K., Wahl, D. R., Debbeler, L. J., Koller, J. E., Brünecke, I., Lages, N. C., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2022). Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Study Variations in Daily Experiences and Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic. European Health Psychologist, 22(4), 813–833. https://ehps.net/ehp/index.php/contents/article/view/3380
  • Wahl, D. R., Villinger, K., König, L. M., Ziesemer, K., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2017). Healthy food choices are happy food choices: Evidence from a real life sample using smartphone based assessments. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 17069. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17262-9