The Descriptive Experience Sampling method

Authors: Hurlburt, Russell¹; Akhter, Sarah²

Source: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Volume 5, Numbers 3-4, December 2006 , pp. 271-301(31)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) is a method for exploring inner experience. DES subjects carry a random beeper in natural environments; when the beep sounds, they capture their inner experience, jot down notes about it, and report it to an investigator in a subsequent expositional interview. DES is a fundamentally idiographic method, describing faithfully the pristine inner experiences of persons. Subsequently, DES can be used in a nomothetic way to describe the characteristics of groups of people who share some common characteristic. This paper describes DES and compares it to Petitmengin's [Phenomenol Cogn Sci, this issue] second-person interview method.

Keywords: Descriptive Experience Sampling; introspection; first-person methods; second-person methods; consciousness; inner experience; phenomenology; random-sampling; beepers; idiographic

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11097-006-9024-0

Affiliations: 1: Email: russ@unlv.nevada.edu 2: Email: sarahaakhter@yahoo.com

Publication date: 2006-12-01