Randomly sampling thinking in the natural environment.

Thought sampling, the experience sampling method (ESM), and descriptive experience sampling are 3 methods of randomly sampling thinking in participants' natural environments. All use beepers that signal participants to report aspects of their experience and behavior at random intervals. Thought sampling and ESM are quantitative methods, and standard validation studies have demonstrated them to be reliable and valid. They provide insights into human experience and behavior that are difficult or impossible to attain by nonsampling methods. Descriptive experience sampling is a nonquantitative method that provides provocative descriptions of phenomena such as "unsymbolized thinking"--thoughts that occur in awareness without words, images, or any other kind of symbols--and perception that has no figure--ground phenomena.