Child development in real time: The power of ambulatory assessment for investigating dynamic developmental processes and behavior longitudinally

Abstract

Ambulatory assessment methods used to capture "real-world" microprocesses through self-report or passive data collection are used to assess child and adolescent behavior in context. This chapter begins by introducing the researcher to ambulatory assessment methods and describes these methods for use in child and adolescent developmental and behavioral research. Next, the importance of attention to timing is discussed. We then suggest appropriate analytic methods for putting ambulatory assessment data to best use to answer developmental research questions. We end with comments on the ethics of ambulatory assessment data and some concluding remarks for researchers wanting to use these methods in their own work.

Keywords: Adolescents; Ambulatory assessment; Behavior; Children; Development; Diary; Ecological momentary assessment; Experience sampling methods; Longitudinal.