Ambulatory assessment methods for capturing naturalistic couple interactions in daily life

With the increasing use of smartphone technologies and wearable biosensors, we are currently undergoing what many have termed a “data revolution,” where intensive, multichannel data are passively collected over long timeframes. Such procedures are transforming the way psychologists conceptualize research and have the potential to spur important advances in the study of close relationships. This proof-of-concept study from the Couple Mobile Sensing Project, a partnership between psychologists and engineers, combines big data and ambulatory assessment methodologies to study multi-modal, micro-processes in couples’ everyday lives. These data collection procedures are designed to test how characteristics of everyday behavioral, physiological, and vocal interactions are integrated within and across individuals. We present examples to show how these data can be synchronized across modalities and partners and can be linked to generalized relationship dimensions. Discussion highlights the potential and challenges of capturing multi-modal, multi-person, real-time, naturally-occurring social phenomena.