Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is widely used to capture stress and related processes in daily life while reducing recall bias. However, frequent and diverse assessments may impose participant burden and affect compliance, particularly in multi-component EMA designs. The present study examined perceived burden and response rates across different EMA components within a 14-day stress-monitoring protocol and investigated how perceived burden and daily stress levels relate to response rate over time.
Forty-seven participants completed a smartphone-based EMA study consisting of prompted morning and evening questionnaires, self-initiated event-contingent stress reports, and conditional prompted 60-minute follow-up assessments. Perceived burden for each component was assessed retrospectively at the end of the study using visual analog scales, and objective response rates were derived from timestamped app logs. Differences in perceived burden were examined using within-subject analyses. Associations between burden, compliance, and daily stress were analyzed using correlation analyses and linear mixed-effects models.
Results showed significant differences in perceived burden across EMA components. Self-initiated stress reports were perceived as most burdensome, followed by the evening questionnaire and follow-up assessments, whereas the brief morning questionnaire was rated as least burdensome. A moderate negative association between perceived burden and response rate was observed only for the morning questionnaire. The relation increased during the second week of participation compared to the first week. Compliance across components declined during the initial days of the study before stabilizing. Higher end-of-day stress levels were associated with increased same-day engagement in self-initiated stress reports and follow-up assessments, but not with next-day compliance.
Overall, the findings indicate that perceived burden varies across EMA components and only partly explains compliance behavior. EMA engagement appears to be dynamically linked to momentary stress rather than delayed effects, underscoring the need to balance scientific goals with participant experience in EMA study design.