Introduction
Daily life studies are a face-to-face method. Researchers physically monitor a participant for part or the day, take notes, record video or audio, take pictures, and ask follow-up questions about the person's behaviour. A day in the life is a type of study in which the researcher follows and observes a user on an ordinary day.
Day in life
Day in life technique is also known as day in the life journey map, and customer journey map.
Description
What is this technique about
The 'Day in the Life of' technique first appeared in 1994 by Francis Gouillart and Frederick D. Sturdivant in their paper 'Spending a Day in the Life of Your Customers' focusing on third-party market research scenarios in the manufacturing industry (Gouillart, F. and Sturdivant, F.D. 1994).
For which purpose is it used
A Day In The Life activities are a powerful way to understand emotions, lifestyle, and many other helpful tips that can lead to gap detection. Most of the products or services we use in general do not take our whole day and therefore are not a method to be used when your goal is to improve an existing product or increase its usability.
A Day in the Life is also a very effective way to understand the user's unique context so that the researcher gains insight into the user and his environment. You can also use interviews or surveys as a quick and inexpensive tool, but A Day in the Life will give you much richer insights.
Limitations:
A Day In The Life can be time consuming as it involves observing users all day long. The researcher does not examine the daily activities of the user, as the user may lose their natural flow and change their behaviour during the day. Different users may behave differently on a typical day; therefore, A Day in the Life may lead to different findings.
How to implement these technique/tools
Preparation, before the section:
- Based on your design question, define the activities that you want to understand better.
- Find participants that are willing to be followed for some hours (or even an entire day).
- Arrange/schedule to follow participants throughout their day/activities.
- Make sure you have materials to capture the data that the participants feel comfortable with (audio/video recordings, note taking, etc.).
During the session:
- Remind the students the rules and the importance of the filed notes.
- Follow participants and capture the information. Sometimes it helps to ask participants to explain their reasoning for doing things in a certain way.
- Go over the information that has been captured. Make storyboards that include a timeline of actions and explanatory text.
- Analyse the data to gather insights.
- Promote discussions.
Follow-up after the session:
- Facilitate reflective discussions where students can share their experiences and insights gained.
Examples and/or testimonials
https://thehearingaidpodcasts.org.uk/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ot/
Tools needed
Offline: Observation/ Recording tools, Respondent recruitment, Field notes, A Day in the life artifacts.
Resources
Links:
- https://www.wevalgo.com/know-how/opex-assessment-tools/day-in-the-life-of-dilo-analysis-methodology/dilo-how-to-practical-guide
- https://think.design/user-design-research/a-day-in-the-life/
- https://www.mindtools.com/auinqv7/dilo-day-in-the-life-of-analysis
- https://toolkits.dss.cloud/design/method-card/day-in-the-life/
- https://www.alexandercowan.com/day-in-the-life-depth-on-your-personas/
Videos: https://youtu.be/d74KAOeoCK8
Papers: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813011129
Books:
- Spend a day in the life of your customers by FJ Gouillart, FD Sturdivant
- Block, D. (1994). A day in the life of a class: Teacher/learner perceptions of task purpose in conflict. System, 22(4), 473-486.
- Gouillart, F. and Sturdivant, F.D. (1994). 'Spend a Day in the Life of Your Customers,' Harvard Business Review [online]. Available here. [Accessed September 27, 2016.]
- Lipari, R. N., & Jean-Francois, B. (2016). A day in the life of college students aged 18 to 22: Substance use facts.