Diary Studies: Understanding Long-Term User Behavior and Experiences

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Top Highlights

• A diary study is a research method used to collect qualitative data about user behaviors, activities, and experiences over time.

• n a diary study, data is self-reported by participants longitudinally — that is, over an extended period of time that can range from a few days to even a month or longer.

• User logs (diaries) of daily activities as they occur give contextual insights about real-time user behaviors and needs, helping define UX feature requirements.

• They are the “poor man’s field study”: they are unlikely to provide observations that are as rich or detailed as a true field study, but they can serve as a decent approximation.

• When to Conduct a Diary Study

• it can be very difficult to appropriately create scenarios in a lab setting to gather these kind of insights

• Diary studies are useful for understanding long-term behaviors such as:

• scenarios can be used for user testing

• Habits

• Usage scenarios

• Attitudes and motivations

• Changes in behaviors and perceptions

• Customer journeys

• The focus of a diary study can range from very broad to extremely targeted

• Product or Website

• Behavior

• General activity

• A specific activity

• Methodology

• five phases