A method for determining a quality factor of an electrostatically actuated oscillator, the oscillator having a resonance frequency, the method including generating an excitation voltage defined as being the sum of a sinusoidal voltage and a voltage pulse; applying the excitation voltage at the input of the oscillator; acquiring in the time domain a response voltage present at the output of the oscillator after having ceased applying the excitation voltage at the input of the oscillator; determining the quality factor of the oscillator from the response voltage acquired at the output of the oscillator.