Is it OK to intervene during a diary study?

1. What is a valid diary study method?
2. How long should a diary study last?
3. What is a key disadvantage of using diary methods?
4. What are the typical main phases of a diary study?

What is a valid diary study method?

Methodology. A diary study is typically composed of five phases: Planning and Preparation. Define the focus of the study and the long-term behaviors that you need to understand. Define a timeline, select tools for participants to report data, recruit participants, and prepare instructions or support materials.

How long should a diary study last?

Diary studies come in all shapes and sizes. Depending on what you need to understand, where and when, diary studies can be as short as 1 day or can be as long as 12 months. On average however, most of the diary studies we support are between 7 and 10 days long.

What is a key disadvantage of using diary methods?

Some drawbacks to diary data were noted: redundancy, irrelevance and inconsistency in the subject's writing; drawbacks to the interview data were researcher bias, the 'real-time' nature of the interview and the time-consuming nature of processing and analysing the interview data.

What are the typical main phases of a diary study?

Actually conducting a diary study has five main phases: planning, recruiting and onboarding, monitoring, debriefing, and analysis.