Processes of DesignSeventh lecture:

Diary Studies 27 October 2003

William Newman

Initial goals of our Diary Study

• Identify generic problems that people encounter during the day

• Identify the metrics by which people estimate what they can get done, e.g.,• “I like to get 500 words written in an hour”• “I see patients for about 10 minutes and aim to

move them a step towards better health”• “I usually give myself 2 hours to write the report”

• Develop scenarios for use in design

Some past diary studiesand their results

• At Xerox Research Centre, Cambridge• Discovery of ‘agenda-benders’ – things that wreck

your daily agenda• Discovery of last-minute authoring• Observing library users ‘reading in order to write’

• A recent HP-funded set of one-day studies• Identifying generic problems• Identifying UbiComp application opportunities

Before-and-After Diary Studies

• Studying people’s days without following them around

• But simple diaries don’t tell you what didn’t get done

• It’s hard to reconstruct the day’s ‘logic’• Hence we elicit a plan for the day• Then we obtain a detailed diary• Then we can compare the two.

How the plan helps: examples

Take son’s music (forgotten) and drop off at school

20 mins

HPlan:

Dropped off son’s music 10:05 10:30Diary:

Write proposal, 2-3pp, not too long or technical, maybe send it today

2-3h HPlan:

Prepared proposal, stopped because had been looking at it too long.

13:50 15:00Diary:

Your participant: What he/she signs up for

• At the start of D-Day, or late on D-day Minus One: spend half an hour being interviewed

• Throughout D-Day: keep a diary of his/her activities

• On D-Day evening, or the morning of D-Day Plus One: spend 45 minutes being interviewed.

Signing up your participant

• Sign up your participant well in advance• Select someone who leads a busy life• Avoid studying a quiet or unusual day• Explain what the study is about (see handout)• Make sure there are no show-stoppers, e.g.

confidentiality• Provide a Consent Form and get it signed.

The Pre-Diary Interview: 30 mins

• Ask about the work• If relevant, ask about the domestic situation• For each of their planned activities:

• What are they aiming to get done?• When will they do it (if known)? [to the nearest 5 mins]• Its duration [to the nearest 5 mins]• How important to get done on the day – H/M/L?

• Give them the diary form to fill in, and explain it• Take the plan away with you!

A Typical Plan Excerpt

Make coffee, open delivered mail. Can do it faster if necessary.

H1 30m

Hoovering if time. L2 5m

Make up order for Churchford Cathedral. Two boxes of 500 each.

H3 20m

Make up order for Woburn College Oxford, 1000 candles.

H4 1h

Pay some bills. May consult with David on this.

by2pm

M5 1h

8:30

9:00

early

early

Filling in the Diary Form: Instructing the Participant

• What is ‘an activity’? When does a new activity start? Every time the participant -• makes a change in their object of attention• makes a change of location • changes the people they’re interacting with

• For example:• Switch from writing a report to reading email• Go to the meeting room, do email while you wait• After the meeting, stay on to talk to someone

Post-Diary Interview (1 hour)

• Go through the diary with them, making sure:1. Activities are related to entries on plan

2. Activities are understood by you

3. You know why it happened when it did

4. If it didn’t get done right, you know what went wrong

5. If they did better than plan, you know how

6. You know about other problems

7. You have filled in any obvious gaps

• Check for planned activities not done, and why.

Diary Form Excerptwith annotations

Coffee, sorting post, etc., with David (partner). Orders given to David. Talk over today’s work and plan jobs.

8:30Cut short on finding Omega letter, see next.1 8:50

Deal with post, with David. Clay had to call (carriers) to complain about overcharge on bill, kept waiting a long time.

8:50Boxes can get distorted in transit , they get surcharged £20

~ 9:05

Agnes arrives unexpectedly to collect London orders and deliver Cambridge orders, none of which are ready. Must leave by 14:00.

9:05Clay became apprehensive about his plan for the day.~ 9:05

With David and Agnes, more coffee while revising today’s plan and counting out small items (wicks etc.) for Cambridge orders.

9:05Clay feeling better, but now no margin for error, or for the unexpected.

~ 9:30

A

B

C

D

Analysis

• Do it right away, before they forget• Type the diary onto a fresh form• Anonymize it• Now work towards building a complete story

for the day• Look for generic problems• Look for metrics• Develop scenarios from problematic activities.

In conclusion

• Don’t worry if you forget things, you can go back and ask them questions

• Don’t worry if you miss some data – what you get will be plenty

• Forget about technology during the study• Acknowledge your participant’s achievements• Share your data with us• Enjoy yourselves!