Key points at a glance
- Define the event and measurement window.
- Keep daily questions short.
- Separate within-person and between-person patterns.
Choose repeated measurement for a reason
A diary study records experiences near the time they occur. This can reduce recall problems and show how stress, behaviour or mood changes within a person. A one-time survey answers a different question about people or typical experiences. Decide which temporal variation is central to your hypothesis before committing to daily data collection.
Example: You study whether daily interruptions while studying relate to exhaustion that evening. A short evening survey across ten study days may suit the question better than asking about “interruptions last semester”. Phrase the measure around that specific day, not a general self-description.
Balance schedule and respondent effort
Fix study duration, response window and reminders in advance. Measurement should be close to the event without unnecessarily interrupting daily life. Every extra question increases burden and may produce missing entries. Keep core items stable and test whether participants understand them on both easy and difficult days.
Use an anonymous participant ID and date stamp while collecting no more identifying data than needed. Sensitive questions require careful consent, storage and access arrangements. A small pilot reveals actual completion time and whether notifications arrive within the promised window.
Treat missing days as information
Few studies obtain every scheduled entry from every participant. Report participation by day and person. Missingness may not be random: the most stressful days might be the days people skip. Do not silently turn an unanswered evening survey into “no event”.
Set a rule for minimum completed days and late entries before analysis. Report these choices. Compare frequent and infrequent responders where possible. Selecting only the neatest complete records after seeing the data can bias conclusions.
Analyse nested observations
Days are nested within people. Ten responses from one participant are not ten independent students. Distinguish within-person questions (“On my more interrupted days, am I more tired?”) from between-person questions (“Are frequently interrupted people more tired?”). The two patterns can differ and need an analysis appropriate to the design.
For a small thesis, careful descriptive results may be better than an overambitious model. Discuss the planned analysis with your supervisor before collecting data. Report both participant count and usable diary entries, and limit conclusions to the observed period.
Final submission context
Formal details can feel like a separate writing task, but they matter just as much for a printed submission. Anything missing, misplaced or inconsistently formatted in the document will also appear in the bound copy.
Use this guide together with your cover page, table of contents, page numbers, source notes and appendices. Prepare the final PDF for printing and binding only after the complete file has been checked.
Practical check before PDF export
- Do headings, chapter structure and page numbers match?
- Are sources, figures and tables included completely?
- Are required elements such as declarations, appendices or the cover page included where required?
- Did you open and check the final PDF after exporting it?
Checklist
- Defined the time-specific question.
- Piloted a short questionnaire.
- Set missing-entry rules.
- Reported people and entries separately.
Common mistakes
- Counting every day as a new person.
- Coding missing days as zero.
- Asking too many daily questions.
Prepare the finished thesis for submission
Once the content and university requirements are checked, review your PDF and the available printing and binding options.
Review printing optionsRelated content
Explore related guidance on thesis structure, sources, formatting and final submission.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a diary study last?
Match duration to the phenomenon and participant burden.
Should I send daily reminders?
They can help if agreed and used sparingly.
Which sample size should I report?
Report participants and the number of analysed entries.