Diary study brief
Design a diary study that captures behavior over time without placing an unreasonable burden on participants.
UX research and audits · 45 min · Advanced · 32 questions
Longitudinal protocol
Why does this behavior require a diary study?
How often should participants experience the behavior?
In which context should participants experience it?
Which device access does participation require?
Which reading or writing ability does participation require?
Could recording the behavior put participants at risk?
Study cadence
How long should the diary study run?
Which event should trigger an entry?
Does the study need entries at fixed intervals?
How much time should one entry take?
Diary prompts
What triggered the recorded moment?
Where did the recorded moment happen?
What was the participant trying to do?
What did the participant do?
What happened next?
How did the participant feel?
Participant support
How will participants learn to make an entry?
Will participants complete a practice entry?
When should participants receive reminders?
How can participants report a technical failure?
When may a researcher contact a participant?
What should happen when a participant stops responding?
Compensation and privacy
How will full participation be compensated?
How will partial participation be compensated?
Can participants skip a sensitive moment without losing compensation?
What must participants avoid or protect in entries?
Analysis
How often will researchers review new diary entries?
How will missing diary entries be handled?
How will late diary entries be handled?
How will recurring patterns be identified across entries?
Which participants should be invited to a follow-up interview?
Which contrasting participants should be compared?
How to use this brief
Use this brief as a bank of questions for the conversation. Choose what is relevant, mark covered questions as you go, and skip anything that has already been answered.
Use this brief when...
Use when you need to design a diary study that captures behavior over time without placing an unreasonable burden on participants.
Best used as: Research plan
- Category
- UX research and audits
- Discussion time
- 45 minutes
- Depth
- Advanced
- Last updated
- Jul 21, 2026
- Scope
- Design briefs
- Best used as
- Research plan
- Design roles
- UX researcher
- Audience
- UX and UI designersProduct designersProduct managersDesign leads
- Platforms
- ResearchWebMobile
- Company type
- B2BB2CEnterprise
- Product stage
- DiscoveryGrowthMature product
- Tags
- ux-research-and-auditsdiary-studyresearch-and-evaluationlongitudinal-researchin-context-behavior