Typical planning steps for launching the method include:
- Formulation of research objectives for the diary activity.
- Determining who will participate in the research. The target audience should be capable of providing the relevant answers to the research; otherwise, they are not likely to provide meaningful information even if they do log regularly.
- Based on the project's overall timeline, setting the duration of the activity--weeks or months.
- Determining the frequency of inputs, and the maximum amount of time each participant should expect to dedicate to the effort. The shorter the time, the easier it is to get people to participate. For example, having to log activities three times a day, each day, over a period of a month, might be quite demanding. However, for some applications, it is exactly this type of detailed feedback which makes the diary method valuable.
- Deciding on the appropriate compensation for participants. It should be proportional to the expected level of involvement and consistency of input. There is, however, a fine line between making the activity a fee for service, and a reward for participating in the research. The first might lead some participants to think about the effort as a job, or feel obliged to provide only positive feedback.
- The more structured diary inputs are, the faster and easier it is to fill-out, aggregate and analyze.
- Determination of the diary collection instrument, such as an online survey tool, ca special app, a physical paper diary, and so on. For example, for a company that develops specialized equipment for use in remote harsh conditions, electronic forms of data capture may not be possible.
- Analysis and presentation of the results, including the identification of shared patterns across diaries.