Diversity, equity, and inclusivity in observational ambulatory assessment: Recommendations from two decades of Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) research

Deanna M Kaplan; Colin A Tidwell; Joanne M Chung; Eva Alisic; Burcu Demiray; Michelle Bruni; Selena Evora; Julia A Gajewski-Nemes; Alessandra Macbeth; Shaminka N Mangelsdorf; Jennifer S Mascaro; Kyle S Minor; Rebecca N Noga; Nicole R Nugent; Angelina J Polsinelli; Kelly E Rentscher; Annie W Resnikoff; Megan L Robbins; Richard B Slatcher; Alma B Tejeda-Padron; Matthias R Mehl

doi:10.3758/s13428-023-02293-0

Diversity, equity, and inclusivity in observational ambulatory assessment: Recommendations from two decades of Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) research

Behav Res Methods. 2024 Apr;56(4):3207-3225. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02293-0. Epub 2023 Dec 8.

Authors

Deanna M Kaplan^#¹, Colin A Tidwell^#², Joanne M Chung³, Eva Alisic^#⁴, Burcu Demiray^#⁵, Michelle Bruni^#⁶, Selena Evora^#⁷, Julia A Gajewski-Nemes^#⁸, Alessandra Macbeth^#⁹, Shaminka N Mangelsdorf^#¹⁰, Jennifer S Mascaro^#¹¹, Kyle S Minor^#¹², Rebecca N Noga^#¹³, Nicole R Nugent^#¹⁴, Angelina J Polsinelli^#¹⁵, Kelly E Rentscher^#¹⁶, Annie W Resnikoff^#¹⁷, Megan L Robbins^#⁶, Richard B Slatcher^#¹⁸, Alma B Tejeda-Padron^#², Matthias R Mehl²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. deanna.m.kaplan@emory.edu.
² Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
⁴ Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, USA.
⁷ Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
¹¹ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹² Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, USA.
¹³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38066394
DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02293-0

Abstract

Ambient audio sampling methods such as the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) have become increasingly prominent in clinical and social sciences research. These methods record snippets of naturalistically assessed audio from participants' daily lives, enabling novel observational research about the daily social interactions, identities, environments, behaviors, and speech of populations of interest. In practice, these scientific opportunities are equaled by methodological challenges: researchers' own cultural backgrounds and identities can easily and unknowingly permeate the collection, coding, analysis, and interpretation of social data from daily life. Ambient audio sampling poses unique and significant challenges to cultural humility, diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) in scientific research that require systematized attention. Motivated by this observation, an international consortium of 21 researchers who have used ambient audio sampling methodologies created a workgroup with the aim of improving upon existing published guidelines. We pooled formally and informally documented challenges pertaining to DEI in ambient audio sampling from our collective experience on 40+ studies (most of which used the EAR app) in clinical and healthy populations ranging from children to older adults. This article presents our resultant recommendations and argues for the incorporation of community-engaged research methods in observational ambulatory assessment designs looking forward. We provide concrete recommendations across each stage typical of an ambient audio sampling study (recruiting and enrolling participants, developing coding systems, training coders, handling multi-linguistic participants, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination of results) as well as guiding questions that can be used to adapt these recommendations to project-specific constraints and needs.

Keywords: Ambulatory assessment; Audio sampling; Ecological behavioral observation; Ecological momentary assessment; Mobile sensing.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cultural Diversity
Humans
Monitoring, Ambulatory / instrumentation
Monitoring, Ambulatory / methods
Research Design*