User Diaries

User diaries are employed to capture thoughts, opinions, and feelings, thus providing excellent research material. Researcher’s absence in the process of writing a diary allows the user to share more, eventually providing unique information about himself/herself.

You will need

a diary (paper, digital), and, possibly, a camera

Time

at least 1 week

People

1 or more users

Difficulty

3 – it is especially challenging for the participant

Use when...

you want to find information about the user, which would have been unobtainable in your presence
you want to get to know users’ experiences in the context
you cannot be with the user in the researched place (e.g. at home or in hospital)

Do not use when...

you want to get a large number of opinions on a single topic (try Questionnaires instead)
you need data in a uniform structure (although it depends on the form of the user’s diary)

Procedure

Set the form of the diary (structure, regularity of entries). User’s diary can take many forms - it can be written on paper, user’s blog, or user’s photos or videos that record his or her experiences and feelings.
Before having users writing their diaries, try working with a diary yourself.
Users should be explained how to work with the library and provided with the necessary tools. Arrange the means of further communication.
Let the user collect the data and, in course of the collecting, continually ask the user in order to find out whether the process meets your expectations.
When the time determined for data collection passes, analyze the data from users’ diaries. You can meet the users to conduct additional interviews.

Keep in mind that...

your participants need to be selected carefully
you need to agree with the users on everything that should be recorded in the diary, i.e. what kind of thoughts and activities are relevant for you
a diary does not have to be a book - consider the possibility of a video diary or any other form of recording

Find out more

Peter Hernon’s article Academic Library Directors: What Do They Do? shows how to use diary research in libraries
Carine Lallemand’s article on the employment of diaries in UX research (with both example and template)
in the encyclopedia Qualitative Research Methods by Lisa Given, you can find a minute description of the method