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148 CHAPTER 6 Diaries

RECORDING DIARY ENTRIES ON THE GO
Palen and Salzman (2002) carried out two studies, which used diaries to learn
about the usage of new mobile phone users. They wanted to know how the
mobile phones were used in various situations on a daily basis. If you want
users to make diary entries in real time, it does not make sense to ask the
diarists to record entries about mobile phone use on paper or desktop/laptop
computers, since the diarists would then be likely to make entries at a later time
(which would subject the diary entries to recall bias).
It was decided that voicemail entries would be used to record the diary
entries. However, another challenge is that there could be complications
stemming from the fact that the subject of the diary (the cell phone) might also
be the method of making the diary entries. So participants were given the
option to record voicemail messages using any type of phone that they
wanted—a landline, their current mobile phone, or a different mobile phone.
A phone number with voicemail was dedicated to the project, so that
participants would not have to use any features on their mobile phone to record,
just make a standard outgoing call. This aspect limited the complications of
using the mobile phone to record data about the mobile phone.
The goal of the first study was to learn more about the usability of
the features in the phone handset. In this portion of the research, 19 users
participated and they were paid $1 per day for calling in. The goal was not
to collect rigorous, qualitative data, but rather to get a better understanding
of when they used their phones in a new environment, used new features, or
contacted the phone service provider. Participants at first started phoning in
their diary entries from landlines and then gradually switched to using their
mobile phones. The second study had 18 participants, and the researchers used
a much more structured approach, where they asked specific questions. In the
second study, participants reported things such as confusion about services and
signal coverage, and even the ergonomics of the phone (some asked if rubber
grippers could be added so that the phone would not slip).

6.6 LETTING PARTICIPANTS KNOW WHEN TO RECORD A
DIARY ENTRY

Regardless of whether the diary format is paper or electronic, participants should
be given information about the goal of the study, the types of activities that are of
interest, when to make diary recordings (at a given time every day or when a certain
type of incident occurs), and definitions of terminology. Definitions of terminol-
ogy are especially important, as many individuals may use different terms for the
same events or similar terms for different events. For instance, if someone using a
personal computer records a “crash,” what does that mean? Does it mean that the
application crashed but the operating system was OK? Did the operating system