Using Diaries in Information Research

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Using Diaries in Information Research

• Kate Friday
• PhD Research Student
• Department of Information Management
• The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
• prs.friday_at_rgu.ac.uk

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Diaries as a Method

• the sequence, duration, and frequency of
  behaviors and about the contexts in which they
  take place (Bishop, 2003)
• Three types
• Personal diaries
• Research diaries or logs
• Diaries solicited from participants
• Lack of discussion in research methodology texts
• Most common in medical, health, psychological
  studies, but use increasing in all areas
• Reviews include Verbrugge (1980) Goodall
  (1994) Gibson (1995) Keleher and Verrinder,
  (2003)

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Diaries and Qualitative Research

• Quantitative and qualitative
• Structured format most common
• Qualitative diary use still relatively rare
• useful in eliciting contemporaneous information
  about informant lives, as they are lived, and
  from their perspective. (Francis, 1997)
• Semi-structured/unstructured
• so that the author is free to include a record
  of feelings, perceptions and emotions as well as
  providing a description of the activities in
  which they are involved. (Phillips and Davies,
  1995)

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Strengths

• Non-threatening and natural format
• Sensitive Information
• Specific information, rather than general (Smith,
  2000)
• Substitute for observation
• When researcher cannot be present (resources or
  otherwise)
• Less time consuming (Gibson, 1995)
• Easier to collect longitudinal data
• particularly valuable in accessing accounts
  which are 'hidden' or muted because they do not
  fit into categories structured in terms of the
  researcher's frame of reference (Elliot, 1997)
• In context natural habitat
• Low recall error
• if participants are asked to complete the diary
  on the day an event occurred
• Reduces telescoping (Verbrugge, 1980)

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Weaknesses

• Bias
• Those who complete may be uncharacteristically
  determined or conscientious
• Diarists recording accurate information?
• Can diary keeping affect behaviour?
• Leading participants or suggesting problems
• Reliant on participants -
• Large burden
• Literacy
• Interpretation of handwriting
• Participant fatigue - Sustain motivation
• Detail and frequency of entries may be
  problematic (Gibson, 1995)
• Large amount of data generated

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Response rates and completion

• High and extremely variable attrition (drop-out)
  rate
• Around 40, but ranged from 5 to 73
• Most attrition happens early (Lee, Hu and Toh,
  2004)
• roughly 70 of all attrition took place
  immediately after the pre-diary survey
  Consequently, the continuing participants quickly
  comprise those most resistant to attrition.

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Diary use in Information Research

• Deborah Goodall (1994)
• Lack of discussion in LIS-specific research texts
• Not that popular in LIS tends to be structured
  and over short periods.
• More emerging cases
• Used in conjunction with other methods
• Toms and Duff (2002), Spink (2004) Rieh (2004)
  Ryan and Valverde (2005) Banwell and Capel
  (2006)
• Handful of instances in hundreds of IS/IB studies

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Background to the research

• Internet information provision for Family History
  Research
• Increased interest in genealogy and family
  history
• e-genealogy ? e-family history ? e-personal
  heritage
• Internet revolutionised aspects of the research
  process
• Explosion of new resources
• The majority of these provide only a search
  mechanism or raw materials lacking in context.
• Local Studies Collections
• mainstay of traditional genealogical/ family
  history research
• Lack of awareness of Internet presence - not
  visible?

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Background to the Research

• 3 Central foci
• Resources
• Users
• Local Studies Collections
• Investigate e-genealogical resources and Local
  Studies from User perspective
• Diaries
• Search Shadowing
• Focus Groups

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Family Historians andInformation-seeking

• Savolainens (1995) Everyday Life
  Information-seeking?
• Francis (2004)
• Genealogical Search Process (GSP) model (after
  Kuhlthau)
• The search for genealogy information is not a
  linear, closed process like that of a student
  research paper, but a more circular pattern...
• Various activities at different stages
• Fulton (2006)
• Serious Leisure
• Yakel (2004)

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Why Diaries?

• Natural habitat
• Minimise any intrusion or influence on their
  information- seeking behaviour or strategy
• Large geographic spread
• Record data over multiple sessions
• Specificity
• Bishop (2003) -
• 11 family historians kept a diary of their
  genealogical research activity for three months.
• Trying to create a metanarrative that describes
  how these genealogists endeavor to create
  engaging, accurate family narratives to be shared
  with future generations.
• Committed and enthusiastic population

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Planning

• Development
• Observation of two informants
• Piloting
• Paper format
• Easier to complete during research
• A3 coloured paper
• Semi-structured
• The inclusion within the diary of two or more
  types of entry may also allow internal validation
  of the content (Francis, 1997)

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Participant Name ________________________
Session No. _________ Location
__________________ Date / / Session
Start Time ________
During Please make a note of the name (or URL)
of each website you visit, in the order that you
visit them. Please also indicate if you arrived
at a site from a bookmark, or if you spend more
than 10 minutes on one site.
Before Do you know who, or what you are
looking for information on today? If so, what?
After What happened in your research today?
What did you find? Was this what you were
looking for? How do you feel about your research
today? Where do you think you will go next? How
did you feel about the resources you used today?
(Please continue overleaf if necessary)
Session End Time ____________
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Design

• Identification
• Participant Name (pre-coded)
• session number
• location
• date
• start and finish times.
• Before
• Do you know who, or what you are looking for
  information on today?
• If so, what?

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Design

• During
• Name/URL of website (in the order)
• Bookmark/Favourites
• More than 10 minutes on one site.
• After
• What happened in your research today?
• What did you find?
• Was this what you were looking for?
• How do you feel about your research today?
• Where do you think you will go next?
• How did you feel about the resources you used
  today?

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Sample

• Recruited via Online Survey
• Further email contact September 2006
• Stratified random sample of 30
• Gender
• Age range
• Location (at country level)
• Genealogical experience.

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Execution

• Paper diaries postal distribution
• Pre-paid envelopes (IRCs)
• Record 8 research sessions between October 2006
  to March 2007
• extended
• Email reminders
• Return in Batches
• Monitor entries
• Less chance of data loss

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Framework for Analysis

• Within context of whole User data collection
  strategy
• Date, time, location of research
• Resources used
• Patterns of resource use
• How new resources are discovered
• Opinions of resources
• Connections between sessions
• Directions of research
• Comparisons between researchers perceived
  information need (or their goals for the session)
  and their approach to seeking information
• Work in progress!!!

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Response and Preliminary Results

• Diaries returned by 23 participants 23
  attrition.
• 136 from 240 57
• Disheartening - people initially very keen, but
  you never hear from them again

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Top 10 Sites
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Top 10 Sites - Unique Uses
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Preliminary Observations

• 21 researched mainly at home
• Only 2 changed location
• Predominantly different direction in a new
  session
• Google is by far the search engine of choice
• I did have difficulty in tracing some place names
  that appeared with the census returns, and found
  Streetmap quite unhelpful, but found them on
  Google d01
• Using Internet for preparation for research
  visits as well as gathering
• Still aware of the importance on offline
  resources
• So it really is that the internet provides great
  leads but only original documents give any real
  confidence d14
• No luck either, but for at least half the years I
  searched not every quarter was displayed, making
  the search less than satisfactory. Will have to
  do the rest on fiche_at_FRC d08

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Perceptions of the Internet

• I am constantly amazed at the amount of
  information online. Living in Western Canada,
  there is no was that I could do my research
  without expensive trips to archives, Family
  Records Centres, etc, in Ottawa, Canada, and the
  UK. Even if I could afford to make the trips, I
  could never spend the time needed to obtain what
  I am able to obtain online and more info is
  added every day! d16
• It was great accessing these records online. I
  once spent a day doing hands-on research at the
  National Archives and that was an experience in
  itself, intricate systems, looking for service
  records for my English King grandfather and
  Scottish McCallum great grandfather. However,
  for me, online has to be the better option. d06

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Positive opinions of resources

• This was quite a positive session as some of the
  free to use websites had clearly had work done on
  them the BMD site worked more quickly and there
  is now information available on the parish
  register and census sister sites although clearly
  there are a lot of records yet to be
  transcribed.d27
• The resources are good to use but of course one
  also feels uncertain when the information is not
  found. d22
• ScotlandsPeople is a fantastic resource. One
  hours work on genealogy and no travel, and I
  have electronic copies of six pages of census
  returns. However, what you lose with search
  engines is the ability to take a parish record
  that you know contains family information and
  just delve through. The chance connections or
  relatives to be traced back are lost.d28

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Negative opinions of resources

• It showed that the indexing in Ancestry is quite
  inaccurate and also on Pallots where she has been
  indexed as Sarah Jones, but on the index slip her
  name was Sarah Collins Jones. Also highlighted is
  how incomplete the IGI is. d01
• Some of the errors are on FamilySearch as well.
  Its frustrating when a record says married
  about 1571, died about 1566! A five-year
  post-death wedding party must have been rather
  dreary. d14
• (The census records on Ancestry are good the
  BMD records are terrible. I much prefer
  ScotlandsPeople but I am searching in England so
  that is no help) d22
• Ancestors on Boardchecked to see if any new
  information on shipping passengers. Waste of time
  as its an expensive site and Im not willing to
  pay 65 when much of their info is available
  elsewhere and its free. d20

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Directions of Research

• The key piece of evidence in tying this family up
  was Thomas occupation of cardmaker which is
  shown on James marriage cert. The baptisms in
  the Halifax PR recorded occupations and Thomas
  was shown as a cardmaker. This info is not on the
  IGI reinforcing the message that it is crucial to
  check the source information in order to see the
  full picture! d01
• I knew this man had married in 1753 and his wife
  was buried in Bloxwich, Staff. In 1788. Now I
  discover he was also buried there in 1798. Now if
  I could only find a baptismal record showing his
  father, I could take the family back one step
  farther. d16
• Problem the named district is not listed on the
  GENUKI site. I tried the search anyway but there
  are too many possibilities without any really
  great matches. I read up as much as I could about
  these records. As many are not yet computerised,
  a non-finding may not be that impressive. From
  the point-of-view of an OS searcher, this makes
  it difficult. Ill probably take a break from the
  Roses and let the problem simmer in the back of
  my mind. d22
• This really has been more of an education day
  learning of more of the resources on the web that
  can prove useful for deadends when the usual
  genealogy tools are not fielding results. An
  enjoyable change. d14

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Insights into the Family Historians world

• A labour of love for William. Luckily an unusual
  surname. 76 pages, plus some fiddling when page
  wouldnt read (approx. 5 times). Question
  answered! Considering this say 85 pages in 2
  hrs 25 minutes 145 minutes. 1.7 minutes/page.
  Ill read GRO pages for the Olympics. d09
• I have been at it since they went online. The
  first evening was great few had realised the
  OPRs were up. The next day the site was down,
  but they soon had it up again. Great helpdesk.
  However, when word got out, even the IGI Family
  Search site crashed!! There must have been so
  many people out there using it to prepare.d06
• Getting a great find instantly eliminates the
  hours of futile frustration. Great day. d14

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Summary Issues to consider

• Physical Diary Format
• Electronic of Paper?
• Appearance
• Usability
• Internal Diary Format
• Structured format less time-consuming and easier
  to analyse, but restricts data
• Unstructured may be easier for participants, but
  consider analysis
• Instructions and definitions
• Clear set of instructions
• Define unit of observation
• Example entries

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Summary Issues to consider

• Distribution and Contact
• Monitoring and support increases motivation,
  reliability and validity of the data that is
  gathered. (Keleher and Verrinder, 2003)
• Timespan of Research
• Long enough to capture the behaviour you are
  trying to study
• Participant fatigue? Later entries can get less
  and less inclusive
• The longer the data collection period, the better
  quality and richer data obtained for analysis on
  an individual participant level (Keleher and
  Verrinder, 2003)
• If you sustain the interest of participants, then
  study completion rates do not seem to be affected
  by the length of time a diary is kept (Keleher
  and Verrinder, 2003)
• Consider your participants!!!!

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References

• Bishop, R., 2003. In the Grand Scheme of Things
  An exploration of the Meaning of Genealogical
  Research. Paper presented at the Mid-Atlantic
  Popular/American Culture Association Conference,
  7th November 2003, Wilmington, Delaware.
• Elliot, H., 1997. The Use of Diaries in
  Sociological Research in Health Experience.
  Sociological Research Online, 2(2) online
  http//www.socresonline.org.uk/2/2/7.html
  Accessef 25 May 2005
• Francis, L. S. (2004). The Genealogy Search
  Process. PNLA Quarterly, 68(3), pp.12, 22.
• Francis, G., 1997. The use of a patient diary in
  health-care research. British Journal of Therapy
  and Rehabilitation, 5(7), pp.362-364.
• Fulton, C., 2005. Finding pleasure in information
  seeking Leisure and amateur genealogists
  exploring their Irish ancestry. Proceedings of
  the American Society for Information Science and
  Technology, 42 (1).
• Gibson, V., 1995. An analysis of the use of
  diaries as a data collection method. Nurse
  Researcher, 3(1), pp. 66-73.
• Goodall, D., 1994. Use of Diaries in Library and
  Information Research. Library and Information
  Research News, 18 (59), pp. 17-21.
• Keleher, H.M. and Verrinder, G.K., 2003. Health
  Diaries in a Rural Australian Study. Qualitative
  Health Research, 13(3), pp. 435-443.

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References

• Lee, E., Hu, M.Y. and Toh, R.S., 2004. Respondent
  non-cooperation in surveys and diaries an
  analysis of item non-response and panel.
  International Journal of Market Research, 46(3),
  pp.311-326.
• Phillips, R. and Davies, R., 1995. Using Diaries
  in Qualitative Research. British Journal of
  Midwifery, 3(9), pp.473-493.
• Rieh, S.Y., 2004. On the web at home Information
  Seeking and Web-searching in the Home
  Environment. JASIST, 55(8), pp.743-753.
• Ryan, G. and Valverde, M., 2005. Waiting for
  service on the Internet Defining the Phenomenon
  and Identifying the Situations. Internet
  Research, 15(2), pp.220-240.
• Savolainen, R., 1995 Everyday Life Information
  Seeking Approaching Information Seeking in the
  contect of Way of Life. Library and Information
  Science Research, 17(3), pp.259-294.
• Spink, A., 2004. Multitasking Information
  Behavior and Information Task Switching An
  Exploratory Study. Journal of Documentation,
  60(4), pp.336-351.
• Toms, E.G. and Duff, W., 2002. I spent 1 ½ hours
  sifting through one large box... Diaries as
  Information Behaviour of the Archives User
  Lessons Learned. JASIST, 53(14), pp. 1232-1238.
• Verbrugge, L.M., 1980. Health Diaries. Medical
  Care, 18(1), pp. 73-95.
• Yakel, E., 2004. Seeking information, seeking
  connections, seeking meaning genealogists and
  family historians. Information Research, 10(1).