Novel technologies to study smoking behavior: current developments in ecological momentary assessment

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods for the capture of real-world data in real time have seen significant advances, both in popularity and application, over the past few years. As a research methodology, EMA offers considerable advantages and has proven to be particularly suited to the study of substance dependence research. Using EMA, research participants can record information about events, symptoms, situations, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they occur. Moreover, when used in concert with other technologies, such as geospatial software, EMA becomes a tool with which researchers can gather rich data about individuals’ daily lives. This review aims to introduce the reader to EMA and to the rationale behind its use. We discuss the applications for which EMA can be used, and the many advantages they offer, with a particular focus on the study of smoking behaviors.