Last week I attended the first of hopefully many meetups covering all aspects of user and design research organised by The Research Thing and hosted by Fortune Cookie. The technique covered in this event was Diary Studies and there were three presentations: "Diary studies: A primer" by Boon Chew which gave a good introduction to this method of research followed by a run through of the benefits and pitfalls based upon his own experience, "Diary studies: Alternative approaches" by Lee McIvor which provided further insight into the advantages and disadvantages of carrying out paper versus digital diary studies and lastly Beth Duddy talked about her experience of using Posterous to carry out a diary study.

So, what is a diary study?

A diary study is a qualitative method of research that gathers insight over a period of time. Participants record events or activities in their own environment and this data is then collated and analysed by a researcher. Diary studies can provide an insight into the behaviour of participants and the context and environment that triggers certain activities. They can highlight rare and infrequent events and can be carried out remotely without the need for continuous direct observation.

Here are my takeaways:

  1. Paper diaries are a familiar concept to most people so little or no training is required beforehand and people can start recording their activities straightaway. Entries can consist of notes, sketches, diagrams and lists. Paper diaries can be time-intensive to monitor and there is a potential delay before you see any entries so it can be worthwhile asking your participants to return entries back to you on a regular basis so that they can be moderated. The researcher can then provide feedback to ensure that the right kind of information is being recorded.
  2. Digital diary studies allows you to gather data in multiple formats such as text, photographs, video and audio. Activity can be recorded and received in real-time which can make moderation easier and has the added benefit of allowing the researcher to feedback directly to the participant as and when necessary using the same tools. Conversely, a purely digital diary study may be a barrier for some audiences and there are limitations in the types of data that can be recorded e.g. no sketches. Data may not always be recorded instantly and recording activities after they happened may lead to important details being omitted and forgotten (this is also a potential pitfall with paper diaries). As such the most rich and insightful diary study may well require a combination of methods that is based upon the type of participants and the activity that is being researched.
  3. During the study the researcher can keep participants on track by giving them reminders and feedback. It is often beneficial to provide progressive incentives to maintain participation. On-going moderation will allow the researcher to ensure that they are collecting useful data and allows for opportunities to re-evaluate the format of the study and the tasks being recorded. Having multiple participants means that there will be different styles of reporting so it's important to be clear about what you are looking for in order to get useful material to evaluate.
  4. The amount of data gathered could potentially overwhelm the researcher so it is important to talk to participants beforehand, ideally face-to-face. This session can be used to introduce yourself, set expectations, explain when data should be recorded (at random times, specific intervals, based on activity), what sort of data should be recorded (activity, triggers, motivations, feelings, procedures, environment - let participants know that no detail is too small to record) and how the data can be recorded (text, sketches, video, audio, photographs, blog). This is also a good opportunity to make sure that your participants are comfortable with the tools that they will be using and you can also give them some examples of type of information that you are looking for.
  5. Once all of the data has been collected stories of interest can be mapped out and patterns identified. This information makes a great starting point for follow-up one-to-one interviews where key events and activities can be discussed in more detail.

I enjoyed the evening and left with an understanding of the benefits and limitations of diary studies and can see how, for the right type of study, they could be used to gather effective insight into behaviour and activity.

Many thanks to the organisers and speakers. See you at the next event!