SEMA3: A free smartphone platform for daily life surveys.

Abstract

Traditionally, behavioral, social, and health science researchers have relied on global/retrospective survey methods administered cross-sectionally (i.e., on a single occasion) or longitudinally (i.e., on several occasions separated by weeks, months, or years). More recently, social and health scientists have added daily life survey methods (also known as intensive longitudinal methods or ambulatory assessment) to their toolkit. These methods (e.g., daily diaries, experience sampling, ecological momentary assessment) involve dense repeated assessments in everyday settings. To facilitate research using daily life survey methods, we present SEMA³ ( http://www.SEMA3.com ), a platform for designing and administering intensive longitudinal daily life surveys via Android and iOS smartphones. SEMA³ fills an important gap by providing researchers with a free, intuitive, and flexible platform with basic and advanced functionality. In this article, we describe SEMA³'s development history and system architecture, provide an overview of how to design a study using SEMA³ and outline its key features, and discuss the platform's limitations and propose directions for future development of SEMA³.