Diary Methods in a Digital World

By Janet Salmons, PhD

---

Diaries: A personal record of experience

Diaries are useful tools in research, and digital tools expand their potential. Alaszewski (2006) provides some useful definitions:

A diary can be defined as a document created by an individual who has maintained a regular, personal and contemporaneous record. Thus the defining characteristics of diaries include:

• Regularity A diary is organised around a sequence of regular and dated entries over a period of time during which the diarist keeps or maintains the diary. These entries may be at fixed time intervals such as each day or linked to specific events.

• Personal The entries are made by an identifiable individual who controls access to the diary while he or she records it. The diarist may permit others to have access, and failure to destroy the diary indicates a tacit acceptance that others will access the diary.

• Contemporaneous The entries are made at the time or close enough to the time when events or activities occurred so that the record is not distorted by problems of recall.

• A record The entries record what an individual considers relevant and important and may include events, activities, interactions, impressions and feelings. The record usually takes the form of a time-structured written document, though with the development of technology it can also take the form of an audio or audiovisual recording.
  

In research, diaries as data sources can be either solicited, or unsolicited. Unsolicited diaries were kept by individuals for their own purposes. Unpublished diaries can be found in archives and libraries, and can offer unique lenses on the events of an historical time period, culture, or other aspects of life. See these posts: Getting Started with Archival Research, and Finding Data in Documents and Datasets. Solicited diaries are created when research participants respond to prompts and questions. They are, by nature, more structured and focused on the researcher’s agenda and interests.

Alaszewski (2006) notes the differences in diary researchers’ approaches:

Researchers differ in the degree to which they want to control the type of information which diarists record. Researchers using experimental and survey designs want diarists to record only data which are relevant to the research and to record them in a highly structured way. They will seek to rigidly structure the documents used by diarists and provide detailed instructions and training to ensure that diarists use the documents supplied correctly. Researchers using unsolicited diaries have by definition no control over the ways in which these diaries were created. They have to use what is available and select diaries which contain relevant information. Researchers soliciting diaries for naturalistic research do have the opportunity to influence the ways in which diarists keep their diaries but for such researchers there is a tension. While they want diarists to be free to produce their own accounts in their own words, they may want to provide some guidance so that diarists address relevant issues.

Researchers using experimental designs often emphasise their role as a neutral independent observer ‘who systematically observes and measures the behaviour of matter’ and reports the results of these investigations as facts (Bowling, 2002, p. 126). Thus there is a strong emphasis on ensuring the observations and measurements are accurate and not subject to bias. In this approach to research, ‘diaries are a substitute for accurate scientific observation, in settings from which the “scientist” is absent’ (Elliott, 1997, p. 3). Participants will undermine the research if they do not accurately measure and record the effects of the prescribed interventions (Ross et al., 2001, p. 44). Survey researchers are also concerned with accuracy. Vagueness of instruction or misunderstandings about the information which the diarist should record can produce inaccuracies in the data recorded in diaries (McColl et al., 2001, pp. 253–4).

Researchers using qualitative and naturalistic approaches to research are more concerned with the authenticity of participants’ accounts. They want to use methods which show respect for participants and minimise intrusion into their social worlds (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995, p. 6). Researchers using unsolicited diaries are in an excellent position to adopt a naturalistic approach, while researchers soliciting diaries need to consider the impact which their soliciting has on the research setting. p. 67-68

Alaszewski, A. (2006). The development and use of diaries. In Using Diaries for Social Research (pp. 1-21). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020215

---

The articles collected for this post are examples of solicited diaries created with the use of technology tools.

Pen, smartphone, or computer - any way we can record thoughts can be a a means to gather data for a study using diary methods.

Audio or Video Diaries

Buchwald, D., Schantz-Laursen, B., & Delmar, C. (2009). Video Diary Data Collection in Research with Children: An Alternative Method. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800102

Abstract. The study of children's experiences in relation to various life situations is an essential task that imposes certain requirements on the researcher's choice of method for data collection. In this paper the author describes the use of video diaries as a method in child research, discussing its opportunities and limitations. Although video diary studies are still not particularly widespread, their use is predicted to increase as children become increasingly familiar and comfortable with the technology. Video diaries offer a useful supplement to more conventional methods as they are capable of eliciting data that would not otherwise be obtained.

Cottingham, M. D., & Erickson, R. J. (2020). Capturing emotion with audio diaries. Qualitative Research, 20(5), 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794119885037

Abstract. Research on emotion is fraught with methodological limitations, as feelings can have non-discrete, ephemeral, and ineffable qualities. Audio diaries offer a method for capturing the sequential and varied experience of emotions as they emerge from everyday life. Following theory and methodological development in the sociology of emotion, we examine how audio diaries might be used to capture (a) candid emotions that emerge spontaneously and may reflect unpopular or negative social views and experiences, (b) the self as unfinished, and (c) processes of emotional reflexivity that exist alongside the diverse emotions that infuse everyday life. We explore how waveform visualization of audio recordings might be meaningfully combined with qualitative analysis of transcribed data to illustrate emotional contours in situ. We draw on audio diaries collected from 48 nurses from two US hospital systems to explore the possibilities and limitations of using audio diaries in emotion research.

Gebhard, D., & Wimmer, M. (2023). The Hidden Script of Work-Related Burdens in Home Care – A Cross Over Mixed Analysis of Audio Diaries. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42(4), 704-716. https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221130747

Abstract. The lived experiences of work-related burdens in the daily working routines of home care workers are insufficiently investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the types, frequencies, and distributions of work-related burdens and to explore their co-occurrence. Qualitative data was collected via audio diaries and analyzed applying a crossover mixed analysis using content as well as network analysis. In all, 23 home care workers (mean age = 46.70 ± 10.40; 91.30% female) produced 242 diary entries. Participants reported work-related burdens 580 times with 77 different types, predominately in relation to work organization (50.5%). Network analysis reveals a complex picture, which shows the strong relation between time pressure and travel between homes, and identifies additional tasks as the central node in the network of burdens. A holistic understanding of setting-specific burdens provides an important starting point for measures of workplace health promotion.

Gibson, B. E. (2005). Co-producing Video Diaries: The Presence of the “Absent” Researcher. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 4(4), 34-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690500400403

Abstract. Video diaries are said to provide a more “direct” understanding of participants' experiences than is afforded by data that are “controlled” by the researcher. In this article, the author problematizes this viewpoint and argues that personal video accounts are socially located constructions that are produced in response to a specific research context. Using examples from research that examines identity with young men who have severe physical impairments, she illustrates these effects and the role of the researcher in co-producing video accounts. Rather than viewing this as problematic, she suggests that examining how participants construct their video accounts as situated research participants provides a valuable source of analyzable data. The author outlines a method for interrogating video accounts that builds on these foundational assumptions.

Ibrahim, Y. (2021). Accounting the ‘self’: From diarization to life vlogs. Convergence, 27(2), 330-342. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520947618

Abstract. The diarization of the self emerged through historically contingent social and economic relations and the practice of accounting as an integral aspect of industrialization and capitalism. From the journal to new media technologies, the recording of everyday life is about the governance and construction of the self, illuminating the ‘everyday’ as a salient dimension of sense-making in relation to the wider world. Accounting the self today has gained renewed prominence through new media technologies and social media platforms and its increasing incorporation into everyday life, inviting a public interface. The teleology of older forms of accounting the self (i.e. the journal) to new media technologies needs to be seen through a continuum in which sociocultural and economic forces enmesh with the medium of communication as a tool of self-expression to capture the self in its diurnal mode. This article utilizes Raymond Williams’ notion of cultural materialism, in linking the diary as a modern technology of self-expression with vlogs in the post-digital terrain wherein material practices shed light onto our lifeworlds construed through the resources available within material and immaterial infrastructures, offering both agency and abstraction by capital. As such, the manifest cultural form is intimately mediated by cultural technologies.

Mobile Phone App Diaries

Karadzhov, D. (2021). Expanding the methodological repertoire of participatory research into homelessness: The utility of the mobile phone diary. Qualitative Social Work, 20(3), 813-831. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020913904

Abstract. Participatory research methodologies have expanded the opportunities for critical, emancipatory and democratic health and social work research. However, their practical application in research with vulnerable participants has historically been challenging due to ethical, practical and theoretical concerns. Individuals who are homeless are typically seen as ‘hard-to-reach’, transient, ‘hidden’ and even chaotic participant populations. Unsurprisingly, examples of the use of innovative participatory research techniques with those groups have been relatively scarce. This paper aimed to address this gap by discussing the application of one such technique – the mobile phone diary in research with multiply disadvantaged homeless adults. Diary methods are situated within the qualitative research on health, illness and social marginality, and the enhanced capabilities of the mobile phone diary are highlighted. The author illustrates the application of the mobile phone diary in his participatory research on the everyday life narratives of adults with serious mental illness (SMI) who were homeless. The process of designing the mobile phone diary is detailed. Following this, participant testimonies of their use of the mobile phone diary are presented. They demonstrate the participatory and inclusive nature, as well as the cathartic and empowering potential, of this technique. The methodological contributions and challenges and the theoretical generativity of the mobile phone diary method are discussed. The mobile phone diary is a feasible approach for eliciting evocative, contextualised and nuanced accounts of the lived experience of homelessness, social isolation, coping and recovery.

Lev-On, A., & Lowenstein-Barkai, H. (2019). Viewing diaries in an age of new media: An exploratory analysis of mobile phone app diaries versus paper diaries. Methodological Innovations, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2059799119844442

Abstract. This exploratory study inquires into the validity and reliability of dedicated mobile phone diary applications. We developed Watchy, a dedicated mobile viewing diary application, and compared users’ compliance and usage patterns with those of users of the paper viewing diaries. Participants received paper diaries or installed mobile diary apps, with or without daily reminders, to document their viewings over a 4-day period. Documentation was more extensive in the smartphone app with reminder group compared to the paper diary group. Reminders increased documentation rates. Extent of documentation decreased as the experiment progressed for mobile app users. Findings suggest that mobile viewing diaries are an important tool for viewing studies, yet their use requires careful planning.

Welford, J., Sandhu, J., Collinson, B., & Blatchford, S. (2022). Collecting qualitative data using a smartphone app: Learning from research involving people with experience of multiple disadvantage. Methodological Innovations, 15(3), 193-206. https://doi.org/10.1177/20597991221114570

Abstract. This article discusses the use of a smartphone application (‘app’) as a method for undertaking diary-based qualitative research with a group of participants with lived experience of multiple disadvantage (experience of two or more of homelessness, offending, mental ill-health and substance misuse). As part of a multi-method approach to the study, an app was designed for participants to capture rich, real-time qualitative data through a variety of media – text, audio, image and video – to make it accessible and interactive for participants. There is an identified gap in the use of apps to collect qualitative data with marginalised groups, and this paper reflects on our experience of designing and implementing an app as part of a wider multi-method research project. We argue that, particularly during the challenges of adapting research methods in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the smartphone app has considerable potential for engaging participants in a flexible way to involve marginalised groups. Qualitative researchers in particular should consider the potential of this approach, and encourage others to share their reflections and learning.

Diaries with Digital Tools

Bishop, S., & Kant, T. (2023). Algorithmic autobiographies and fictions: A digital method. The Sociological Review, 71(5), 1012-1036. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261221146403

Abstract. In this article, we outline an original, creative method for capturing the multifaceted ways in which digital technologies shape social life. We outline a framework for engaging participants in creative writing and drawing techniques to support ‘meeting and greeting’ their ‘algorithmic selves’. Algorithmic selves offer datafied reflections of individuals’ social media use, represented through platform approximated advertising categories. These categories include identities, such as ‘female’ or ‘male’, and marketing interests as ‘dog lovers’, ‘first time buyers’ or ‘feminists’. Our method builds on Les Back’s calls for ‘a more artful form of sociology’ that is able to think with technology. By using algorithmic selves to mobilise creative enquiry in this way, we argue that researchers can better discern how technology users make sense of their data, the ways in which identity can be co-constructed by social media platforms, and how our interactions with technology ultimately shape social lives in meaningful and highly affective ways. Our method offers a craft-based framework for understanding imaginations, associations and connections with data profiling, and making these understandings available for participant reflection and researcher analysis. This method can also support research participants in taking creative ownership and building agency around their interactions with social media platforms.

Jones, A., & Woolley, J. (2015). The email-diary: a promising research tool for the 21st century? Qualitative Research, 15(6), 705-721. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794114561347

Abstract. The global research community has identified that, as society becomes ever more mobile and 24/7-oriented, data collection methods that reflect the day-to-day experiences of its participants need to be developed. This article reviews the success and issues of using a solicited email-diary, developed to investigate the impact on commuters of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Research on the effectiveness of diaries as a method of data collection is limited, while there appears to be no analysis using email as a method of soliciting diary responses. The article identifies the research opportunities for an email-diary and the solutions it provides to a number of the problems and limitations experienced with a traditional pen-and-paper diary.

Kaun, A. (2010). Open-Ended Online Diaries: Capturing Life as it is Narrated. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 9(2), 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691000900202

Abstract. Weblogs and life journals are popular forms of reflecting and reporting online about one's everyday life. In this article the author examines whether solicited online diaries can be used in qualitative research. She discusses advantages and disadvantages of the online research, diaries as a source of data, and narration as a method. The discussion is exemplified by the presentation of an online diary study conducted in two parts in the spring and autumn of 2009 with students from Tartu, Narva, and Tallinn, Estonia. This article shows the illuminating potential and richness of solicited online diaries applied in an open-ended, qualitative understanding as a way to investigate everyday life. At the same time, the main challenges are presented and discussed.

Mendoza, J., Seguin, M. L., Lasco, G., Palileo-Villanueva, L. M., Amit, A., Renedo, A., McKee, M., Palafox, B., & Balabanova, D. (2021). Strengths and Weaknesses of Digital Diaries as a Means to Study Patient Pathways: Experiences With a Study of Hypertension in the Philippines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211002746

Abstract. The rise of digital mobile communications has made possible novel research methods that can provide a better understanding of patients’ experience of non-communicable diseases. This study explores the opportunities and challenges in employing “digital diaries” via mobile phones to track the lived experiences of people with hypertension in the Philippines. Following in-depth interviews, 40 hypertensive adults were invited to submit digital diaries over 12 months. Mobile phones were found to be an efficient way of reaching participants, although it was difficult to collect in-depth narratives about their experiences using the medium beyond nominal responses about symptoms and treatment. Possible explanations include the asymptomatic nature of hypertension, which limited the participants’ experiences of the illness, as well as the platform itself, which our mostly-elderly, low-income participants may not be comfortable with. Despite these challenges, “digital diaries” hold potential for the study of other chronic conditions, provided that researchers engage in extensive co-production with participants to understand their preferences. Researchers also need more training in the use of these methods appropriately as part of a suite of methods for capturing the experience of people living with chronic illness.

Rudrum, S., Casey, R., Frank, L., Brickner, R. K., MacKenzie, S., Carlson, J., & Rondinelli, E. (2022). Qualitative Research Studies Online: Using Prompted Weekly Journal Entries During the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221093138

Abstract. Solicited journal entries are a qualitative research method with a fairly strong tradition in sociological research and particularly in qualitative health research. However, the practices and strengths associated with solicited journal entries have not been explored as frequently or comprehensively as more conventional qualitative research methods, such as interviews. During the COVID-19 pandemic we carried out two online studies employing solicited written journal entries and photos. One study focused on pregnancy and health care experiences during the pandemic and the other on everyday life while working from home due to public health restrictions. Here, we discuss solicited online journal entries as a qualitative method and reflect on the strengths and challenges we encountered, including those related to using the online survey tool LimeSurvey for a qualitative diary-based study. The richness of data and the ability to solicit participants’ contemporaneous reflections over the course of a set length of time, the ability to reach people across time zones and in multiple places, and the ability to adapt prompts in a quickly changing research context are major strengths of online journaling. The level of commitment required by participants, the potential for attrition, the need for literacy and technology access, and the large amount of data from each participant are potential limitations for researchers to consider.

Mueller, G., Barford, A., Osborne, H., Pradhan, K., Proefke, R., Shrestha, S., & Pratiwi, A. M. (2023). Disaster Diaries: Qualitative Research at a Distance. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221147163

Abstract. The common-place quantification of humanitarian disasters enables rapid and informed crisis responses. In disaster settings, understanding feelings and perceptions regarding individuals’ experiences, livelihood disruptions and coping mechanisms can also be valuable for extending and deepening quantitative insight. This paper explores the potential for diary methods to capture extensive, nuanced data from marginalised groups during a disaster, by drawing upon a study with 100 young diarists (aged 15–29) who produced 1418 diary entries over 4 months. In particular, we share how diary-methods can be designed inclusively, through addressing themes of equitable research partnerships, supporting more vulnerable participants, ensuring data quality, data management, participatory analysis, and budgeting for collaborative research.

Seguin, M., Mendoza, J., Mallari, E., Lasco, G., Maever L Amit, A., Palileo-Villanueva, L. M., Palafox, B., Renedo, A., McKee, M., & Balabanova, D. (2022). Participant Use of Digital Diaries in Qualitative Research: A Strong Structuration Analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221124725

Abstract. Lived experiences of chronic conditions are marked by fluidity and change, which should be considered if care is to be truly patient-centered. Seeking to capture this fluidity, we used digital diaries via mobile phones to communicate with hypertensive patients in the Philippines over approximately 12 months. This paper draws on Strong Structuration Theory to conceptualize the complex array of factors shaping participants’ usage (and non-usage) of the diaries, thereby offering a comprehensive understanding of how the diaries were perceived and used. We draw on qualitative data from 42 participants (73 baseline/follow-up interviews and 37 digital diaries), purposively selected from a larger pool of quantitative participants, as well as existing literature and our own study documents. The Philippines ‘digital divide' presented barriers to the usage of the diaries, stemming from a lack of access and mobile signal especially in socioeconomically marginalized rural areas. Within this context, the sharing of mobile phones both enabled and constricted diary participation. Guided by Strong Structuration Theory, we observed three cycles of structuration evident in participants’ usage of diaries. The first pertained to the frequency and mode of engagement. A low level of engagement was observed, stemming from negative or ambivalent attitudes toward texting and other factors. Conversely, mobile phone ‘top-ups’ enabled participation. Participant usage of the diaries as tools for monitoring hypertension and to request health advice comprise the second and third structuration cycles. These usages contrast with researchers’ intended usage of the diaries and with the original brief given to participants. The conflict between participants’ and researchers’ understanding of the appropriate uses of the diaries represents the dynamic field of position-practice relations, wherein agents are situated and interact, either perpetuating or challenging existing societal structures. Our findings underline the importance of considering macro- and meso-level factors when considering or conducting research using digital diaries.

Tkacz, N., Henrique da Mata Martins, M., Porto de Albuquerque, J., Horita, F., & Dolif Neto, G. (2021). Data diaries: A situated approach to the study of data. Big Data & Society, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951721996036

Abstract. This article adapts the ethnographic medium of the diary to develop a method for studying data and related data practices. The article focuses on the creation of one data diary, developed iteratively over three years in the context of a national centre for monitoring disasters and natural hazards in Brazil (Cemaden). We describe four points of focus involved in the creation of a data diary – spaces, interfaces, types and situations – before reflecting on the value of this method. We suggest data diaries (1) are able to capture the informal dimension of data-intensive organisations; (2) enable empirical analysis of the specific ways that data intervene in the unfolding of situations; and (3) as a document, data diaries can foster interdisciplinary and inter-expert dialogue by bridging different ways of knowing data.

van Casteren DS, Verhagen IE, de Boer I, et al. E-diary use in clinical headache practice: A prospective observational study. Cephalalgia. 2021;41(11-12):1161-1171. doi:10.1177/03331024211010306

Abstract. To determine whether our E-diary can be used to diagnose migraine and provide more reliable migraine-related frequency numbers compared to patients’ self-reported estimates. We introduced a self-developed E-diary including automated algorithms differentiating headache and migraine days, indicating whether a patient has migraine. Reliability of the E-diary diagnosis in combination with two previously validated E-questionnaires was compared to a physician’s diagnosis as gold standard in headache patients referred to the Leiden Headache Clinic (n = 596). In a subset of patients with migraine (n = 484), self-estimated migraine-related frequencies were compared to diary-based results.

Wieters, K. M. (2016). Advantages of Online Methods in Planning Research: Capturing Walking Habits in Different Built Environments. SAGE Open, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016658082

This article examines the effectiveness of using online survey methods in planning research. This study measured travel behavior and physical activity of office workers over a month period. An online travel diary, pedometer, and online survey were used to assess walking levels and transportation habits for office workers. A subset of the sample used a paper travel diary, which was used for comparison. Analysis of missing data was performed to explore implications of using online survey methods. Using online travel diaries and surveys to assess objective and subjective data can help to reduce recall bias, missing data, and greater flexibility survey administration.

Zhang, A., Goosby, B., & Cheadle, J. E. (2021). In the Flow of Life: Capturing Affective Socializing Dynamics Using a Wearable Sensor and Intensive Daily Diaries. Socius, 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211064009

Abstract. Interpersonal socializing is important to many sociological outcomes, but assessing the affective dynamics within interactional contexts is extremely challenging methodologically. As a first step toward capturing socializing and affective outcomes concurrently, this pilot study (n = 118) combines intensive daily surveys with a wearable sensor that tracked affective arousal. This approach allowed the operationalization of affect along its two primary dimensions, valence and arousal, which were then linked to periods socializing with a romantic partner, a best friend, and/or a group of friends. Although socializing predicted positive and negative affective valence concurrently in time, only socializing with groups of friends consistently predicted increased affective arousal. Findings for romantic partners and/or socializing with a close friend suggest that low arousal “downtime” with close intimates may also provide important social functions. This work demonstrates a new biosignaling approach to affective dynamics broadly relevant to emotion-related sociological research.

---

More Sage Research Methods Community posts about diaries and narrative methods