Collecting and Analysing Situation-Level Exposure Data: Clarifying Appropriate Analysis of Person-Environment Convergence to Explain Action

Research should be driven by theory and served by method. Studying person-environment interaction as defined by Situational Action Theory (SAT) requires an interactive approach. Operationalisation of concepts, data collection methods, and analytical techniques must each be consistent with an interactive worldview and the specific implications of the situational model of SAT. Situational action refers to the behavioural outcome of the interaction of an individual (and their features and state) and an environment (and its characteristics and conditions). In order to study situational interaction, data must therefore capture the spatio-temporally linked convergence of a particular person in a particular environment at the level of the situation and the resultant action. This requires specialist data collection methods, for example, real-world Space-Time Budgets and randomised experimental hypothetical scenarios. The selection and application of analytical techniques must primarily be guided by interactive theoretical principles in order to retain the convergent properties of the situational data. Appropriate methods include comparative presentations of rates, risk ratios, and machine learning techniques that do not divide or nest component parts of the data. In practice, the various features and states of individuals and environments captured in situational data are rarely all measured at the situational level. Therefore, to complement the interactive situational methods, analytical methods may be applied that can take account of methodological obstacles, such as various regression-based techniques that include some account of measurement error. Suggestions of fruitful areas for improvement, development, and replication are included within these recommendations about the data collection and analytical methods that are appropriate for the study of situational interaction.