title: Using diaries to collect data in resource-poor settings: questions on design and implementation.
abstract: Diaries, as a tool for data collection, have been around for some time. Lessons shared to date come from disparate settings and there remains a degree of ambiguity regarding the value of diaries, particularly in resource-poor settings where populations are often illiterate and highly mobile. We recently designed a pictorial diary for the collection of data on household consumption and expenditure in Tanzania and The Gambia. A random sample of 361 diary keepers in The Gambia and 308 in Tanzania maintained diaries for a period of 12 months. The aim of this paper is to share some of the lessons learnt in developing and applying this instrument. It is structured around a series of questions about diaries that we found relatively few answers to when we first embarked on this study. These questions include: how should a diary be designed? How long should a diary be maintained? When should entries be recorded? Who should keep the diary? The motive behind this paper is simple: to provide future researchers who are contemplating using diaries in resource-poor settings with some practical information that may guide them through this process.
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 50 Bedford Square, London WCIB 3DP, UK. virginia.wiseman@lshtm.ac.uk
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wiseman
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Conteh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Matovu
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005714:Gambia; D006295:Health Resources; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D013636:Tanzania