Researching body perception: towards an integration of quantitative and qualitative interdisciplinary approaches to address the multiplicity of bodily experiences

Experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience have attempted to understand the underlying functioning of one's bodyexperience. This has resulted in standardized methods involving multisensory manipulations and physiological, behavioral,and subjective measures. These approaches contribute to the important goal of creating a cumulative and reproducible science.However, they may sometimes lead to some well- known pitfalls; most notably, construct ambiguity, measure dissociations, andloss of nuance. In this argumentative work, we propose that combining qualitative methods employed in design research cen-tred on body experiences, together with quantitative approaches from psychology and cognitive neuroscience, can yield a richeraccount without compromising quantitative rigor. This integration of quantitative and qualitative methods, we argue, may beparticularly valuable when dealing with one's body perception. Without pretending to fundamentally solve methodological dis-crepancies between qualitative and quantitative approaches, we propose a conciliatory take. We propose a three- staged integra-tion model that may be mapped to three common steps of the research inquiry: the experimental design, data collection, and dataanalysis. We further provide a synthesis of qualitative tools and methods to support the explicit reporting of exploratory practicesthat often remain informal in quantitative research. Our suggested mixed methods approach aims to account for individualdifferences, produce more nuanced insights, increase transparency, foster multidisciplinarity, and potentially speed progress insome aspects of the research program.