Research method
Diary Studies
Diary studies involve recruiting participants to take part in research over the period of a few weeks to a few months. Participants are asked to submit "diary" entries every time they naturally do a certain behaviour, e.g. browse for a specific product or service. Diary studies can be conducted via email, text, whatsapp or bespoke platforms.
When to reach for it
Used to collect qualitative data about user behaviors, activities, and experiences over time. This is appropriate only in cases where the decision making process is particularly long, and there is a need to understand the wider user journey / key touchpoints.
Relevant sectors could be the automotive or property industries. Diary studies could also be effective when looking to gather insight into offline parts of the journey, e.g. the returns process.
Strengths and limits
Pros
Diary studies are a in-depth longitudinal research study, as such you can gather robust data about the wider user journey and decision-making process. These insights are difficult to gather using any other method.
Cons
Diary studies can be long and complex to conduct. The exact length will depend on the typical decision-making process, e.g. buying a car or a house.
Diary studies can be expensive since you need to recruit carefully (people who are genuinely in the market for these products or services) and incentivize generously (since these participants could be part of the research study for weeks or months).
Practical considerations
Incentives
It is advisable to think about offering a staged incentive. E.g. 50% upfront, 50% on completion. This ensures participants continue engaging with the research project all the way through.
Tools
There are many tools you could use to gather "diary entries" on an ongoing basis. You could use text, Whatsapp, or email. Alternatively use a specific diary study tool. The key consideration here is to use a method that is as easy as possible for the participant to input an entry, if they have to log into a specific tool everytime, they may be less inclined to submit an entry vs. using Whatsapp.
Common tools
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Recipes that use this method
A method earns its value when its signal corroborates others. Here is where this one does its work.
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