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6.3 Participants for a diary study 141

Diaries are excellent for recording the existence and quantity of incidents that
are user defined, and where there is little previous data documented on the topic.
For instance, one study examined how often users feel that they have learned some-
thing while using a computer. The moment when the user realizes that they have
learned something new about the computer interface, dubbed a “eureka moment,”
was recorded using a diary. Over a period of 5 days, 10 individuals recorded 69
eureka moments, but two of the individuals reported more than 50% of the mo-
ments (Rieman, 1993). In another study, “rendezvousing” (face-to-face meetings
with friends and family) was studied using a diary method. It was determined that
the 34 participants reported a total of 415 rendezvous incidents over a 2-week pe-
riod (an average of six per day) (Colbert, 2001). Documenting in a diary the time
involved, both for a specific incident and throughout the day, can help strengthen
the validity of the data.
Diaries are very good at examining situations where users do not stay in one
place during the time period of interest (i.e., users are on the go). Diaries are also
good for studying the use of a technological device in a real-world setting, where a
controlled setting would not be able to provide ecological validity. For instance, you
could not examine the use of a global positioning system (GPS) device by studying
how people use it within a laboratory setting. In the rendezvous study, diaries were
used to examine how people “meet up,” with the goal of understanding how tech-
nology could help support them in their meetings (Colbert, 2001). Clearly, this is a
phenomenon that could not be studied in the laboratory and interviewing people or
surveying them after-the-fact could lead to biased or incorrect data. Diaries are also
good at examining situations that involve both computer usage and noncomputer
usage. For instance, a time diary study was used to examine work-related reading,
where the goal was to use an understanding of how people read at work, to inform
the design of digital readers or electronic books. For the 15 participants in that diary
study, an average of 82% of their work time was spent reading or writing documents
(Adler et al., 1998).
Diaries are a research method used heavily in sociology. For instance, long-
running studies of how people use their time have used a time diary, which requires
users to account for all their time within specific guidelines (such as all time during
the work day, all time while awake, or all time within a 24-hour period). While hu-
mans generally have problems remembering details of events that have occurred in
the recent past, they are especially prone to inaccurately remembering details about
time. For instance, in a number of national surveys, people have indicated that they
did activities for more than the 168 hours within that week, which is impossible
(Robinson and Godbey, 1997).

6.3 PARTICIPANTS FOR A DIARY STUDY
To develop a diary for appropriate use within a research study, there are a number of
steps involved. Like any other type of research method, prior planning and testing