The Use of Diaries in Sociological Research on Health Experience

H. Elliott

Sociological Research Online, 1997, vol. 2, issue 2, 38-48

Abstract: Diaries have been relatively neglected as a sociological research method. This paper highlights the value of diary research, drawing on the literature on auto/biographies and health service research as well as a qualitative study of need and demand for primary health care, which used diaries and linked in-depth interviews. In particular, data from the study are used to illustrate the role of the ‘diary-interview’ method in offering a means to ‘observe’ behaviour which is inaccessible to participant observation. Five key advantages of the diary-interview are discussed, namely the potential of the ‘diary-interview’ method to accommodate different response modes; the extent to which the method captured diarists’ own priorities; the importance of the research process in illuminating the contexts within which helpseeking took place; the role of diaries as both a record of and reflection on the experience of illness and the value of the diary-interview method as a means of understanding what is ‘taken for granted’ in accounts of health and illness.

Keywords: Diaries; Health Services Research; Need And Demand; Primary-Care; Qualitative Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:2:y:1997:i:2:p:38-48

DOI: 10.5153/sro.38

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