Diary Studies A primer

Boon Yew Chew SapientNitro @boonych

The Research Thing 25 May 2011

View from 30,000 feet""Intro"Examples"Some Practical Tips

A diary study involves participants reporting their activities over a specific period of time, usually apart from the researcher and in their normal daily lives.

Diary Studies in HCI""John Rieman"1993

Benefits

Understanding context and environment Understanding rare / infrequent events Ecological validity Remote Sampling over a duration Bridges qualitative and quantitative studies Flexibility

Participants keep a record of

“When” data

Date & time

Duration Activity / task

“What” data

Activity / task

Feelings / mood Environment / setting

Recorded in various ways

Etc…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/p8/3779990787 http://www.flickr.com/photos/shahid/53829445

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegarfield/616793140 http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannysullivan/266951932

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yurukov/3482865747

…at various times

1.  Randomly

2.  At specific intervals

3.  Based on activity

Structured or unstructured data Structured Yes/no Select a category Date & time Multiple choice

Unstructured Open-ended Opinions / thoughts / feelings Notes / comments

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhutchison/5678812629 http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanessabertozzi/877910821

Ways to gather data

Feedback (now)

Record everything in situ

No follow up “What” data

Mostly structured

Can be burdensome

Elicitation (later)

Record aspects or triggers

Follow up with interview To elicit “why” and “how”

Mostly unstructured

Participants may forget

“Hygiene” aspects

At the beginning Introduction / get-to-know-you Demographics Instructions / Setting expectations

At the end Follow-up Thanks / token gift Reflection

Thanking your participants

One off vouchers Spread incentives across longer durations “Keep the Flip camera” incentive

Pitfalls

Belief bias Behaviour adjustment Ramp-up time Failure to recall

Alternatives / forms of diary studies

Experience Sampling Method (feelings, mood) Cultural Probe (photo, video, sketches) Technology Probe (prototypes, experimental artifacts)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalia_buckley/5410819726

My NordiCHI ‘10 paper

What motivates image use on the internet?

•  Goal - understand motivations of image use •  9 participants (5F / 4M, age 24 – 59) •  Short note of activity involving an image, photo

or visual •  Periodic interviews (about once every two days)

•  About 20 activities per person

Interview fieldnotes in spreadsheet

Grounded theory – coding the data

•  Coded each activity •  Example codes: instructional,

informational, learning, fun, communication, social, etc.

•  Kept a count of activities and codes

Group themes from affinity map

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhutchison/5678812629

Ethnographic “memos”

Modeling, creating a framework

Keeping it real – stories & examples

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhutchison/5678812629

Findings

1.  Observed patterns of image use 2.  Lots of interesting stories 3.  Data can be used to explain, extend or

simulate more research both qualitatively or quantitatively

What I’d do better

1.  Plan better (recording setup, coding shorthand, etc.)

2.  Record coding and affinity maps 3.  Compare against participants’ browser

histories?

thanks Boon Yew Chew

@boonych www.gluethink.com

http://pinboard.in/u:jaremfan/t:diarystudy/