Diary Study
A research method that relies on participants to self-report their activities and routines that are relevant to the use of your product. The participant is asked to log all appropriate information that pertains the research goals.
Research Details
| Research Type | Sample Size | Session Time |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative, Attitudinal, Generative | Medium (10 - 15 participants) | 1 - 2 weeks (Analysis 2-3 days) |
When to Use
- When behavior happens over time and cannot be adequately seen within a couple hours in a contextual inquiry or ethnographic study.
- To understand the context of the user’s goals, needs, and potentially when they use your product.
- To understand when the users needs are triggered and what triggers them.
- To understand the impact of your product on the user’s situation.
Steps
- Determine the activities you’d the participants to track and when (either in the moment of the activity or specific times of day).
- Determine how long you’d like them to track. Consider the variability of the activity - more variability equals more time.
- Create questions that you’d like your participants to answer every time they log their activity.
- Give the participants instructions. Ask the participants to reflect on their feelings during the activity.
- Begin the study.
- Check in with the participants halfway through.
- Collect the diaries.
Tips
- If you have in-person contact with participants, provide them with notebooks that they can write in.
- If you’re running the study remotely, have the participants send the diary entries daily so you can begin analysis throughout the study.
- Consider providing example entries to guide the participants one how to capture their thoughts and feelings.
References
Templates
Created by: Joe Steinkamp | Last updated by: Joe Steinkamp