Research Methods in Information Science/Usability and user experience studies

Diary studies
There are two types of diary studies:


 * 1) Elicitation studies, where participants capture media that are then used as prompts for discussion in interviews. The method is a way to trigger the participant’s memory.
 * 2) Feedback studies, where participants answer predefined questions about events. This is a way of getting immediate answers from the participants.

Advantages
They allow:


 * collecting longitudinal and temporal information;
 * reporting events and experiences in context;
 * determining the antecedents, correlations, and consequences of daily experiences.

Limitations

 * Diary studies might generate inaccurate recall, especially if using the elicitation type of diary studies.
 * Interpreting the expressed emotions and experiences is highly challenging. It can require special training in psychology, especially when participants record their experiences in multiple formats (e.g. text and pictures).
 * Low control
 * User participation tends to decline, especially without investigator involvement.
 * Risk of disturbing the action.
 * The instrument (e.g. paper format diary) is often disconnected from the evaluated application (e.g. a smartphone app). This leads to situations in which the instrument is unavailable and the user cannot record their experiences.