A Review of Ambulatory Health Data Collection Methods for Employee Experience Sampling Research

Abstract

Experience sampling research can offer unique insight into state conditions of employee health. Over the past several years, there has been a surge of popularity for such designs in work and organisational psychology, especially with regard to employee health measurement. Experience sampling health measurement can be executed using a variety of different methods including various objective health metrics such as cardiovascular activity measurement, cortisol response tracking, and actigraphy. Furthermore, recent innovations with personal fitness tracking devices open up many possibilities for researchers to continuously monitor activity and health patterns over many days. Technological advances in self-reporting methods, especially in combination with innovations in objective health measurement, can offer modern researchers richer sets of data. We summarise and describe these methods, offering insight into their advantages and disadvantages for contemporary health researchers interested in experience sampling designs.

The Importance of Definitional and Temporal Issues in the Study of Resilience

“…Alternatively, an event‐based design—which involves the measurement of the focal variable only after the occurrence of particular events—might be useful for measuring resilience mechanism variables (e.g., initial reactions, coping strategies) following instances of adversity, where relevant adversity experiences would serve as the signal events for measurement. Beyond the above, researchers would benefit from familiarity with logistical considerations in conducting longitudinal research (e.g., Bolger & Laurenceau, ; Mehl & Conner, ), advanced analytic approaches (e.g., Solinger et al, ; Wang, Sinclair, Zhou, & Sears, ), and the potential value of wearable technology for collecting data (e.g., Eatough, Shockley, & Yu, ; Mehl & Robbins, ).…”

Work‐life conflict and employee health: A review

“…Work‐life conflict has also been examined in relation to physical health, albeit significantly less than psychological health. Physical health has been defined as “a complete state of physical well‐being” (World Health Organization, ) and the absence of bodily conditions or diseases for which one might need or desire medical attention (e.g., musculoskeletal disorders, pain, sleep disorders; Eatough, Shockley, & Yu, ). Consistent with Eatough et al (), we define physiological health as the proper automatic functioning of bodily systems (e.g., circulatory, nervous, endocrine, digestive systems).…”

“…One reason that short, subjective measures have been heavily relied upon is that objective measures of physical health can be expensive, time consuming, and difficult to administer or analyze. However, recent technological advancements such as sensors and smartphone apps seem promising for facilitating objective physical health measurement, though benefits vary based on the technology and purpose of the study (Eatough et al, ). Outcomes that have been examined using objective indicators include blood pressure and heart rate via wristwatch monitors, cholesterol via blood sampling (van Steenbergen & Ellemers, ), cardiometabolic risk via biomarkers (Berkman et al, ), and salivary cortisol levels (Almeida et al, ).…”

“…Additionally, using an alternative measurement method could help combat the issues present in studies with single source methodology. Ideally, multiple sources on health outcomes could be collected (e.g., both self‐report and objective measures) in order to obtain a holistic picture of employees’ health (Eatough et al, ). Recent advancements in technology can facilitate the measurement of objective health indicators by providing easier, cheaper, less time consuming, invasive, and burdensome ways to capture health data, though the benefits vary by method.…”

Advancing the Psychology of Entrepreneurship: A Review of the Psychological Literature and an Introduction

“…They complement experimental research on affect, cognition, and behaviour and are especially suited to collect ecologically valid data on momentary and daily experiences whilst maintaining high internal validity. New technologies offer unique opportunities to incorporate objective indicators on entrepreneurs’ health and well‐being in such designs (Eatough, Shockley, & Yu, for a review).…”