The proliferation of smartphone technology has afforded exciting new methodological opportunities within the social sciences. Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) leverage this recent technological advancement by tracking the behaviors and perceptions of study participants as they are experienced in real time via smartphone devices in natural environments. Despite their longstanding theoretical interest in how the social environment influences a variety of personal outcomes, sociologists have been slower than many related disciplines to embrace EMAs as a viable methodology. This article promotes the use of EMAs by providing an historical overview of the methodology, highlighting several recent developments within sociology, and exploring future directions while clearly explicating inherent limitations to the EMA approach.
Keywords: Ecological momentary assessment; methodology; smartphones; social environment.