DiaryHelper: Exploring the Use of an Automatic Contextual Information Recording Agent for Elicitation Diary Study

Abstract

Elicitation diary studies, a type of qualitative, longitudinal research method, involve participants to self-report aspects of events of interest at their occurrences as memory cues for providing details and insights during post-study interviews. However, due to time constraints and lack of motivation, participants’ diary entries may be vague or incomplete, impairing their later recall. To address this challenge, we designed an automatic contextual information recording agent, DiaryHelper, based on the theory of episodic memory. DiaryHelper can predict five dimensions of contextual information and confirm with participants. We evaluated the use of DiaryHelper in both the recording period and the elicitation interview through a within-subject study (N=12) over a period of two weeks. Our results demonstrated that DiaryHelper can assist participants in capturing abundant and accurate contextual information without significant burden, leading to a more detailed recall of recorded events and providing greater insights.