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The Goodness Of Diary Studies

by Boon Chew

My presentation slides at #uxcamplondon. Thanks to everyone who attended.

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BoonWhy Present Diary Studies
Build web applications
Lab-based – objective, but not contextual, contrived, generalizableEthnography, Workplace-based methods – contextual, but subjective, real systems
Minimizes the Hawthorne EffectParticipants improve an aspect of their behaviour simply because they’re being observed
Observable behaviourDiary Study entries provide a “HOOK” to ask more targeted interview questions.So, Good interview Q’s + Diary Study Entries= Quality Datae.g. image search – Mexican dish – google images
connect back with “having a focus” and give example: e.g. if doing a diary study on “people who have pets” for a client who is setting up an online pet store.
Diary Form, Interview Questionaire, Consent Form, Information Sheet, Participant’s Address and Contact Details

Paulina Makuch, User Experience Research Manager at K2 Internet 2 months ago
Anna Walters, User Experience Designer at reed.co.uk 1 year ago
Ray Kim, Interaction Designer at NexTag 1 year ago
Lars Rosengren, Senior Interaction Designer at Ustwo 1 year ago
Adrian Makohon, eBusiness Manager at The Tax Institute 1 year ago
gillianmarch, User Experience Consultant at Freelancer Consultant 1 year ago
Lorraine Paterson, User Experience Designer at Royal London 1 year ago
Jason Mesut, Head of User Experience at RMA Consulting 2 years ago
Amy Silvers, Information Architect 2 years ago
daria 3 years ago

The Goodness of Diary Studies
Boon Chew
Me
I do web
(thanks, Francis)
UCLIC
I work here
What are Diary Studies?
And, why?
A method for studying people in their own environments
“... the diary study... is intended for use in the workplace, but... yields data that are more objective and more generalizable than many workplace-oriented methods.”
(Rieman, 1993)
Less Intrusive
Quality data
Flexible
How to do a Diary Study
How It (Usually) Works
1. Meet Participant
2. Inform P What to Do
3. Interview P at Daily(ish) Intervals
4. Conclude When there’s Enough Data
5. Rinse and Repeat with Other Ps
Have a Focus
Select and Recruit your Participants
Create a “Fieldwork Pack”
Plan and Execute your Interviews
Look for Patterns and Insights
Summarize and Make Useful
And That’s How You Do Diary Studies!
Final Tips
< 2 Weeks or
< 5 interview hours
per participant
Take really good notes
And, Always ask WHY
Q’s?
All images licensed under creative commons,
by these generous members on Flickr:
incurable_hippie . Grufnik . Francis Storr
clevercupcakes . ][No Ambition][ . Kristina B
dunechaser . leobard . massdistraction
josstyk . OliYoung . Thomas Hawk
only alice . the|G|™ . Joe Lanman
romanlily . bitzcelt .laurakgibbs
GetItWithMe logo © GetItWithMe.com
All other photos were from the author
Photo Credits
Thanks!
Contact Me:
www.boonyew.com
www.twitter.com/jaremfan
boon.chew@gmail.com