The use of different multiple devices for an ecological assessment in psychological research: An experience with a daily affect assessment

Abstract

Data gathering in psychological research is changing given the technological evolution and the availability of many different devices. However, very little research has been done to verify the validity of this kind of psychological measurements, even if a valid measure is the starting point for a valid research. Our study presents the results of a daily measurement of affect connected with the amount of time a person spends in a natural setting, considering the paradigm of restorative environments. High level of compliance was found from respondents, and also a good quality of the used measurements, in term of construct validity (using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis), invariance of the measure across days, and criterion related validity.