What is a diary study?

- Diary studies … are a way to capture people's behavior over time … so that you can understand their habits, … how frequently they perform certain tasks, … and how they feel about performing those tasks. … Most diary studies ask participants … to answer questions each day … or each time they perform a particular task. … Doing this over a period of time … lets researchers see how behaviors change over time. … This is useful to see how long it takes someone … to get proficient with a new product … or to track them through a decision process … like buying a new car. … You might just want to get a glimpse … into a specific aspect of their regular lives … to see what issues they face … that you could solve with a new application or service. … We used to collect this information by getting participants … to keep a physical paper diary or journal. … I've also given participants a video camera … and sent them a new video tape each week … along with a reply paid envelope … to send back the previous week's tape. …