Experience Sampling Method

A research methodology that collects data about participants' experiences, behaviors, and states in real time and in natural settings through repeated brief surveys or prompts delivered at predetermined or random intervals throughout the day. In accessibility research, ESM captures the lived experience of disability in context — moment-to-moment fluctuations in attention, focus, distraction, and productivity that retrospective interviews or surveys cannot reliably recall. ESM minimizes recall bias and observer effects while providing ecologically valid data about how people actually navigate their environments. The method is particularly valuable for studying conditions like ADHD where experiences fluctuate significantly across a day.