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Health Policy and Planning Advance Access originally published online on September 23, 2005
Health Policy and Planning 2005 20(6):394-404; doi:10.1093/heapol/czi042
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved.

Original article

Using diaries to collect data in resource-poor settings: questions on design and implementation

V Wiseman1, L Conteh1 and F Matovu1,2

1 Health Policy Unit and Gates Malaria Partnership, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and 2 Bombo Hospital, Tanga, Tanzania

Correspondence: Virginia Wiseman, Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 50 Bedford Square, London, WCIB 3DP, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7299 4716; Fax: +44 (0)20 7299 4720; E-mail: virginia.wiseman{at}lshtm.ac.uk

Diaries, as a tool for data collection, have been around for some time. Lessons shared to date come from disparate settings and there remains a degree of ambiguity regarding the value of diaries, particularly in resource-poor settings where populations are often illiterate and highly mobile. We recently designed a pictorial diary for the collection of data on household consumption and expenditure in Tanzania and The Gambia. A random sample of 361 diary keepers in The Gambia and 308 in Tanzania maintained diaries for a period of 12 months. The aim of this paper is to share some of the lessons learnt in developing and applying this instrument. It is structured around a series of questions about diaries that we found relatively few answers to when we first embarked on this study. These questions include: how should a diary be designed? How long should a diary be maintained? When should entries be recorded? Who should keep the diary? The motive behind this paper is simple: to provide future researchers who are contemplating using diaries in resource-poor settings with some practical information that may guide them through this process.

Key Words: diaries, consumption and expenditure diary, data collection, research methods

1Further details on this study can be found at [http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/gmp/research/householdandcommunity.html].


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