Temporal lens

This is the landing page for topics related to the perspective through which you view your process over time, which we refer to as temporal lens.

The temporal lens of your study determines what patterns you observe of your process. It involves theoretical assumptions about over what timescale the process unfolds, what kinds of temporal dynamics matter, and how these should be captured through measurement.

Below we have specified multiple topics that may help tuning the zoom of your temporal lens.

Think more about your temporal lens

Determining the timescale of your process

A process may operate at different timescales. Your theoretical assumptions govern which timescale is of interest.

• Timescale
• Time span, process coverage, and granularity

Dynamics that may be of interest

What you consider meaningful or worth capturing of your process.

• [Types of change]
• [Types of outcome]
• [Stationarity]
• [Seasonality]
• Context and events

Capturing the dynamics of interest

The measurement design dictates how well you can capture the dynamics you are interested in.

• [Occasions]
• Measurement
• Measurement theory
• Sampling design

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Sophie W. Berkhout

Last modified: 2025-04-9