Using diaries in research with people with dementia

This toolkit, written by Ruth Bartlett for the University of Manchester, uses the experiences of people with dementia who kept a diary documenting their campaign for social change to demonstrate the use of diaries.

The toolkit focuses on the reasons the diary method was chosen; explains why and how it was modified for this study; and highlights its main advantage, namely to enable people to be in control. 

Excerpt

"I chose to use diaries to collect data for this study for three main reasons. First, methodologically, it seemed the most appropriate method for gaining rich insights into a person’s motives and inner thoughts and feelings. Second, many people with dementia, particularly those who lead busy lives, are used to keeping an appointment diary, so asking someone to keep a more detailed research diary had some synergy with what my target sample were already doing. Third, related to the above, from an ethical point of view, diary method seemed the best option. It is relatively unobtrusive, as people can record information in their own time and at their own pace; plus it puts the person keeping the diary (as opposed to the researcher) in control. This was especially important, as I did not want the data collection method to become an additional burden to people who were already dealing with a serious disability."

Contents

• Why use diaries for research into the lives of people with dementia?
• Why and how was the diary method modified?
• How the process worked
• Examples of the kind of data collected from diaries
• Advantages of using different kinds of diaries
• Some potential problems and suggestions on how to overcome them