What is a diary study?
A diary study is a method of longitudinal research. It collects data about how participants behave and experience particular scenarios over a period of time.
In a diary study, participants self-report their experiences by logging (via a ‘diary’) what they do, what they think and how they feel in relation to a process, service or journey over a set period of time.
Depending on the context of your project and research objectives, this time period may vary. For example, you might want to conduct a short diary study over a few days to understand the participant experience of arranging a bulky waste collection. Or, over several months to understand the participant experience of school admissions, from selecting choices through to the first day of school.
However long your reporting period is, the methodology of a diary study remains the same. Participants are asked to keep a diary, in which they log specific information about their experience of a particular scenario, task or activity.
Diary studies are more intensive and time consuming than traditional unmoderated methods of research. Depending on the capacity of your research team, it may be best to limit the total number of participants to around five or six per participant group, which will reveal plenty of valuable insights.
While diary studies are more time-consuming than other research methods, their uses are diverse and findings can be fascinating. Diary studies allow you to gain a record of the participant experience as it takes place in real-time, within a natural, and unmodified environment. They provide a clear ‘slice-of-life’ image of your participants, their needs, pain points, what motivates them, and how they react to different elements of their journey as they occur.
When to use a diary study
Diary studies are useful for exploring the thoughts and behaviours of participants as they engage in an experience over time. If you’d like to understand how participants engage with an ongoing service, or how they complete a process that takes a number of days, weeks or more, then a diary study is a great option.
A diary study is particularly useful when you want to gain insight into the real-time experience of participants, allowing you to explore their thoughts and behaviours as they occur throughout the participant journey. Through diary studies you will gain an understanding of:
- Participant habits: For example, the time of day that participants tend to log into their BRUM account, and how often they visit the Council’s website for information.
- Attitudes and motivations: For example, what motivates participants to contact their local councillor? What do participants think about before and after submitting a request to the council?
- Changes in behaviour and perceptions: For example, how do participants perceive the council after they engage with a member of staff? Do participants stop visiting the council’s website after an issue has been resolved?
- Customer journeys: What is the typical journey of the participant when they interact with the council by different channels such as email, phone, social media? Is there a cumulative effect of multiple service touchpoints, or not?
The focus of a diary study can range from broad to specific, depending on your research topic and focus. For example, you may choose to use a diary study if you want to understand how participants interact with a website over the course of a month. You may want to find out what participants do in a specific situation, like signing up for council tax when moving into a new home, or how participants stay updated on current events and local news during a crisis. The specificity of your diary study depends on your research aims and objectives.
Conducting a diary study
There are 5 key steps to follow when conducting a diary study.
Step 1: Planning and preparation
First, develop a research plan that sets out your research focus and objectives, identify your target participant group(s) and set a timeline for your research to be complete.
You will need to decide on which tools and templates you’d like your participants to use as their diary, along with any instructions or guidance for your participants.
Decide on a logging technique and template
Ensure that your diary template is simple and easy to use, make reasonable adjustments if needed to enable effective logging. Be as specific as possible about what information you need your participants to log, but be careful not to stifle natural variability.
Create clear and detailed instructions for logging. Give participants examples of how you’d like them to log details, ensure that they understand the level of detail that you need from them. When doing this, be careful not to bias participants towards the type of entries that you provide as “ideal” examples.
There are two common techniques used for diary studies.
In-Situ logging
With detail, participants log information about their experience as it occurs in the moment. For example, a participant spots a broken street light and wants to report it to the council. They log their thoughts, feelings, and specific steps taken in the moment as they spot the broken street light and begin the process of reporting it to the council.
It is best to use this technique when your research focus does not require a large volume of detailed diary entries, or if the context is such that participant’s daily activities will not be affected by logging in-situ.
The snippet technique
Participants record short snippets of information about their experience as they occur, and then elaborate on their experience with detail at the end of each day, or whenever they have time. This 2-step technique ensures that relevant information is captured in-situ, but does not require participants to provide extensive detail in the moment.
Step 2: Brief your participants
Before moving onto the logging period, ensure that each participant is fully informed on the details of your research and what is required of them. Give participants some time to familiarise themselves with the tools and/or template that you’d like them to use, so that they can take part effectively.
Gain informed consent, and allow participants the opportunity to ask questions for clarity before proceeding.
Step 3: Logging period and data collection
You might provide your participants with a diary template or tool that both you and they have access to. This allows you to see what participants are logging as and when they log it. For example, your participants could log entries on a shared document or spreadsheet, or by text message or email. Alternatively, you might ask that participants share their diary log with you on a daily or weekly basis.
You may need to send reminders to prompt participants to fill in their diary.
Participants could use paper and pen or mobile phones to report events as they happen, as these are easily accessible. This may depend on participant preference.
If you find that more detail is needed, consider asking participants to expand on their entries by answering a short set of prompter questions, or by filling out a questionnaire relating to each entry. This will enable you to get specific and consistent insights about what participants are logging. However, please note that it is important to be considerate of the time and effort demanded of participants.
Step 4: Post-study interview
After all logs are complete, you can review the data provided by participants and plan a follow-up interview to discuss their logs in detail.
This is an opportunity for you to ask follow-up questions for additional insight or clarity. You should also use this time to ask for feedback from the participant, and reflect on their experience as a diary study participant. You may learn something new for next time!
Step 5: Data analysis
As diary studies are completed over extended periods of time, they generate a large amount of qualitative data. Before starting analysis, revisit your research questions. You may want to have set categories that feed into the key elements of your research questions. Or, you may want to synthesise your data first and then develop categories based on the reoccurring themes that appear throughout the data.