Steps to Diary Studies
Planning and Preparation.
- Define the focus of the study and the long-term behaviors that you need to understand. Define a timeline, select tools for participants to report data, select a logging technique, recruit participants, and prepare instructions or support materials.
Prestudy brief.
- Schedule a face-to-face meeting or phone call with each participant to discuss the details of the study. Walk through the schedule or calendar for the reporting period and discuss expectations. Discuss the tools they will be using.
- Be as specific as possible about what information you need participants to log. Give users example log entries to help them understand the level of detail you need from them.
Post-study interview.
- After the study, evaluate all the information provided by each participant. Plan a follow-up interview to discuss logs in detail. Ask probing questions to uncover specific details needed to complete the story and clarify as needed.
Data Analysis.
- Because diary studies are longitudinal, they generate a large amount of qualitative data.
Evaluate the behaviors you’ve targeted throughout the study. How do they evolve and change over time? What influences these behaviors? Construct a customer journey map to help you understand the end-to-end user experience from the perspective of your participants.
Logging Techniques
In-Situ Logging
- Most straightforward method.
- Log information about relevant activities in the situation they occur (or in situ).
- When participants engage in a relevant activity, they must report all important details about that activity right away.
- Since this technique requires participants to take the time to report this information at the time of the event, this technique is best reserved for situations when you don’t foresee a large volume of diary entries occurring or if the context is such that participant’s daily activities will not be adversely effected by logging in situ.
Snippet Technique
- Less intrusive method for logging activities
- Step 1. Participants only record short snippets of information about activities as they occur.
- Step 2. Then, at the end of each day, or when participants have time, they elaborate on each snippet by providing additional details about the activity.
- This 2-step technique ensures that relevant information is captured in situ, before being forgotten but without requiring participants to provide extensive detail at the time of capture, which can be intrusive and unnatural in certain situations.
- Consider in this case incorporating apps they already use - SMS, Whatsapp, etc.
