The email-diary: a promising research tool for the 21st century?

Abstract

The global research community has identified that, as the population becomes ever more mobile, and society 24/7-oriented, data collection methods that reflect the day-to-day experiences of its participants need to be developed. This paper reviews the success and issues of using a solicited emaildiary, developed to investigate the impact on commuters of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Research on the effectiveness of diaries as a method of data collection is limited, whilst there appears to be no analysis using email as a method of soliciting diary responses. The paper identifies the research opportunities for an emaildiary and the solutions it provides to a number of the problems and limitations experienced with a traditional pen-and-paper diary.

Digital Tools for Qualitative Research: Disruptions and Entanglements

“…The articles in this issue show that we have moved beyond treating the materials with which we do our work as neutral, invisible, or ignorable. Nothing, not even ubiquitous technologies such as telephones (Trier-Bieniek, 2012), recording devices (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010;Gordon, 2012;Nordstrom, 2015), or e-mail (Jones & Woolley, 2015), is neutral when it comes to their intersection with methods of inquiry. Although the papers in this issue make an important contribution to what we currently know, additional explorations are needed.…”

Using a Flexible Diary Method Rigorously and Sensitively With Family Carers

“…Handheld devices are easy for participants to carry around and make immediate entries and automated prompts can help promote regular diary entries (Green, Rafaeli, Bolger, Shrout, & Reis, 2006). Until very recently, the use of digital devices in qualitative diary methods has been uncommon (Bartlett, 2012; Bernays, Rhodes, & Jankovic Terzic, 2014; Jones & Woolley, 2015) and there remains a relative lack of discussion regarding the merits and drawbacks of using digital devices in qualitative diary methods. Moreover, in research with carers of people with dementia, ageist assumptions about older adults’ lack of comfort and familiarity with certain types of technology have hampered the development of digital diary methods.…”

‘There’s no pill to help you deal with the guilt and shame’: Contemporary experiences of HIV in the United Kingdom

“…The increased use of online research in health and social sciences is reflected in literature which assesses its utility and limitations (Bryman, 2012; Graffigna and Bosio, 2006; Jones and Wooley, 2015; Price and Walker, 2015; Tates et al, 2009). Notwithstanding the potential for online research to exclude some social groups by virtue of limited Internet access and (non)familiarity, it can provide an avenue to access hard to reach groups, particularly in the context of stigmatised illnesses (Price and Walker, 2015).…”