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What is a Diary Study?

A diary study involves participants keeping a log of the thoughts and experiences they encounter while actively interacting with the product on a day-to-day basis. Diary studies usually take place over a certain period, generally ranging from a few days to a few weeks.

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Diary studies are considered a “hands-off” and economical way to gather a substantial amount of qualitative data (and some quantitative data) from users.

When to use a Diary Study

Diary studies are best utilized when researchers need an affordable way to observe user behaviour in a real-world setting, and when there is a need to collect data over time rather than only during a single visit. They can be used in the early stages of development to test new products, and at the end of a development cycle to fine-tune details.

Benefits and pitfalls

Benefits

• In-depth understanding of a target user group

• Uncover topics and pain points missed by other types of research, as user data is collected over a certain length of time vs. a single session

• Minimally intrusive and captures naturalistic or in-context data

• Can collect data from multiple users during a single time period without having to commit resources to a field study

Pitfalls

• Participants may lose interest in recording diary entries or quit the study altogether. One solution to this problem is constant communication between researcher and participant.

• Analyzing qualitative diary study data can be time consuming due to sheer volume and is difficult to automate. Workarounds include creating standard diary entry questions and asking participants to use digital tools to record diary entries.

Planning

The first step in planning a diary study is to prepare research questions and define study goals.

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During the recruitment and onboarding phase, you will want to make sure you include the right participant in your study, train them in advance and set expectations (e.g. timeline, schedule). Researchers may also choose to conduct a pilot study in advance of the main study to ensure all instructions are understood by participants and any technology to be used is working.

Conducting a Diary Study

Once the study begins, it’s important to continuously check on your participants and answer any questions as they come up. You may also need to remind participants to make diary study entries.

After the diary study is complete, review diary entities and prepare a debriefing interview with each participant. During debriefing, you can clarify any unclear comments or experiences and gain additional insights. Try to complete the debrief interview soon after the diary study is complete, so the experience is still fresh for participants.

Analysis

Researchers can utilize several different methods to analyze diary study data. It is good practice to choose a data analysis method in advance so you can tailor your research questions to match the style of data analysis. After data analysis is complete, data will have to be formatted into a manageable and easy to understand layout that can be accessed by all team members and stakeholders to help inform product development.

References

“Design Research Methods: Diary Study.” OUTWIT*LY, 22 Aug. 2021, https://www.outwitly.com/blog/research-methods-diary-study.

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Moran, Kelly. “Diary studies: a quick primer.” UX Collective, 8 May 2018,
https://uxdesign.cc/diary-studies-cd65a61a4f89

Additional Resources

Halsey, Mac. “How to Conduct a Diary Study: A Start-to-Finish Guide.” dscout,
https://dscout.com/people-nerds/diary-study-guide. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.

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