The descriptive experience sampling method

Russell T. Hurlburt

Sarah A. Akhter

pp. 271-301

in: Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 5, 2006.

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.