Using the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) to measure the mood and behaviour of 1,000 Irish consumers

1. 1
Well-being and decision-making in
everyday life
Liam Delaney, Leonhard Lades

2. 2
1. Background & The Day Reconstruction Method
2. Results
1. Well-being
2. Self-control
3. Discussion + 2 bonus studies
Agenda

3. 3
1. Background & The Day Reconstruction Method
2. Results
1. Well-being
2. Self-control
3. Discussion + 2 bonus studies
Agenda

4. 4
Increasing relevance of behavioural economics
Behavioural Economics, Nudge, and Libertarian Paternalism
have arrived in Ireland.
Focus is on boundedly rational decision making.
Self-control problems.

5. 5
Two forms of Subjective Well-Being
• Evaluative life satisfaction: Thinking about life
• Hedonic experiences: Living
Two measures of hedonic experiences
• Experienced Sampling Method
• Day Reconstruction Method (Kahneman et al., 2004)
Increasing relevance of Subjective Well-Being (SWB)

6. 6
Phase 1: Systematic reconstruction of “episodes” on the
previous day in a short diary.
“Think about what you did and how you felt yesterday
around 1pm. Think of this as an episode in a film…”
Phase 2: Follow-up questions for each episode about time,
location, activities, social interactions, emotions, desires, self-
control …
“How did you feel? Was there anything that you
wanted? …”
The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM)

7. 7
955 participants from Amárach Research’s Omnibus survey.
Representative of Ireland (Age=44.4, 55% female, 28% single,
63.9% married, 32% from Dublin). 58% on the weekend.
Up to 3 episodes per participant.
Number of recorded episodes = 2670.
Number of recorded desires = 1936.
The Study

8. 8
1. Background & The Day Reconstruction Method
2. Results
1. Well-being
2. Self-control
3. Discussion + 2 bonus studies
Agenda

9. 9
How did people feel throughout the day?

10. 10
Locations: Where were they?

11. 11
Positive feelings in different locations

12. 12
Positive feelings in different locations

13. 13
Interactions: Whom did they interact with?

14. 14
Positive feelings while interacting with others

15. 15
Positive feelings while interacting with others

16. 16
Activities: What did they do?

17. 17
Positive feelings in different activities

18. 18
Positive feelings in different activities

19. 19
Different activities over the day

20. 20
Different activities on weekdays

21. 21
Different activities on weekends

22. 22
1. Background & The Day Reconstruction Method
2. Results
1. Well-being
2. Self-control
3. Discussion + 2 bonus studies
Agenda

23. 23
Did you want something?
Did it conflict with a goal?
Did you attempt to resist?
Did you enact the desire?
Measuring self-control failures
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
= Self-control
failure

24. 24
From desire to enactment
~15% Self-
control
failures

25. 25
Domains of self-control instances

26. 26
Domains of self-control instances

27. 27
Compare with 249 Scottish students

28. 28
Desires over the day

29. 29
Self-control failures over the day

30. 30
Positive feeling when not enacting and enacting

31. 31
No well-being effects of failed self-control attempts

32. 32
Different degrees of trait self-control
How much do you agree on a scale from 1 to 5:
• I am good at resisting temptation.
• I have a hard time breaking bad habits (reversed).
• I often act without thinking through all the alternatives
(reversed).
• …

33. 33
Different degrees of trait self-control

34. 34
Different degrees of trait self-control

35. 35
Feelings by trait self-control

36. 36
Different degrees of trait self-control

37. 37
Tiredness by trait self-control over the day

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1. Background & The Day Reconstruction Method
2. Results
1. Well-being
2. Self-control
3. Discussion + 2 bonus studies
Agenda

39. 39
Discussion
Summary: The DRM provides information about the where,
when, with whom, etc. of well-being and self-control.
Limitations: Self-reported, recalled, correlational.
Relevance: Huge potential to design and test business & policy
interventions.
… For example using domain-specific DRMs in areas
such as medication, work-arrangements, teaching,
commuting, food consumption, entertainment,
sleep quality, social media use, etc…

40. 40
Desires to eat and perceptions
n=254, 714 episodes. With Sarah Breathnach.

41. 41
Desires to eat and perceptions

42. 42
Desires to eat and specific perceptions

43. 43
Feelings when binge-watching
n=247. ERM with Lea Barbett and Stephan Dombrowski.

44. 44
Guilt over time during the binge by TSC

45. 45
Thank you for your
attention
Leonhard K. Lades
Email: leonhard.lades@ucd.ie
Twitter: @lklades