Preprocessing ESM data: a step-by-step framework, tutorial website, R package, and reporting templates

Experience Sampling Method (ESM) studies have become a very popular tool to gain insight into the dynamics of psychological processes. Whereas the statistical modeling of ESM data has been widely studied, the preprocessing steps that precede such modeling have received relatively limited attention, despite being a challenging phase. At the same time, adequate preprocessing of ESM data is crucial: it provides valuable information about the quality of the data and, importantly, helps to resolve issues in the data that may compromise the validity of statistical analyses. To support researchers in properly preprocessing ESM data, we have developed a step-by-step framework, a tutorial website that provides a gallery of R code, an R package, and templates to report the preprocessing steps. Particular attention is given to three different aspects in preprocessing: checking adherence to the study design (e.g., were the momentary questionnaires delivered according to the sampling scheme), examining participants’ response behaviors (e.g., compliance, careless responding), and describing and visualizing the data (e.g., examining distributions of variables).