Digital Diary Studies for Longitudinal Field Research

Speaker:  Kelly Goto

Digital diary studies are a cost-effective, flexible, time-saving alternative to in-person, contextual, field research. Using remote UX tools (like Dscout or WhatsApp) on their mobile devices, people anywhere in the world self-report their in-the-moment activities, thoughts, and feelings around the topic of choice. Smart kitchens? Autonomous cars? A new streaming service? The list goes on. These longitudinal studies last anywhere from one week to a few months.

Learn how to research using digital diary tools, micro-surveys, remote interviews, and activities to uncover rich data and keep participants actively engaged.

Topics Covered

Digital ethnography (a.k.a. digital diary studies)

• Why it is important
• What it it
• How is it done

Diary study design

• Running diary studies: how to set up, recruit for, moderate, and report
• The best mobile ethnography tools to use in varying scenarios
• Creating individual activities (aka ‘missions’), experiments, and micro surveys
• Determine the right research goals for each ‘mission’ or stage of the study

‘Insight’ reviews (i.e. analysis and insight reporting cycles with specific research goals)

• What they are
• Why you should do them
• When you should do them
• How you should do them

Recruiting participants

• Panel creation: How to build and nurture a panel for ongoing feedback
• How to keep the participants engaged and avoid traditional fall-off
• The importance of building trust and rapport over time