However the emergence of smartphones now enables participants to diary with photos, videos and text using a variety of online or offline apps and tools.
[3] Diary studies can also be employed together with other research techniques within a mixed method framework and is particularly useful in obtaining rich subjective data.
In the field of human–computer interaction (HCI), diary studies have been adopted as one method of learning about user needs towards designing more appropriate technologies.
Through a framework of the generalizability theory, researchers have used a condensed version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to study within-person emotional changes via diaries.
The most common method is using ‘paper and pencil’, although there are some studies that both utilise and suggest other technologies such as mobile phones or Psion Organisers.
[7] Feedback studies are scalable - that is, a large-scale sample can be used, since it is mainly the participants themselves who are responsible for collecting and recording data.
Feedback studies involve answering questions more frequently and in situ, therefore enabling more accurate recall but more effortful recording.
In contrast, elicitation studies involve quickly capturing media in situ but answering questions much later, therefore enabling less effortful recording but potentially inaccurate recall.
They provide the opportunity for exploratory research, collecting large quantities of precise data that are both in-depth and contextual.
[15] The validity of diary studies rests on the assumption that participants will accurately recall and record their experiences.
This is somewhat more easily enabled by the fact that diaries are completed & media is captured in a natural environment and closer, in real-time, to any occurrences of the phenomenon of interest.
Through evaluating the diary entries of this study, researchers found a significant correlation between the spaces in which students chose to work and their learning activities.