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Electronic diaries in intervention and research: eFamily coach and childrens mobile

application

Anna Rnk

JAMK University of Applied Sciences

Eija SevnDepartment of Education, University of Jyvskyl

In social science research technological progression in high-tech and mobile tools enables

catching up with diverse groups of participants easier than earlier. Diary methods and the

tools used are currently undergoing a huge change. Paper-and-pencil method has been

replaced or at least complemented by a variety of new technological tools such as pagers,

mobile phones and palmtops. Besides to research, electronic diaries are widely used, for

example, in health promotion and rehabilitation as tools in self-monitoring and follow-up. In

this presentation we introduce two types of electronic diaries: a mobile diary eFamily

coach that has been used both in research and as a tool in family counseling and a mobile

application developed for children under school age.

eFamily coachmobile diary provides support for families daily life between their meetings

with family counselors via text messages. The method has its roots in diary method, research

on daily family life and resource oriented work with families. The method has been piloted

and evaluated in several contexts with different focus groups.

The existing daily diary studies have mostly focused on adults and adolescents, with only a

small minority researching young children. The mobile application You got a message from

Illi was developed for collecting data from children under seven years old and from their

caretakers. It was especially targeted for hearing childrens experiences in relation to the 24-h

economy: how children experience non-standard care hours, what makes their daily lifesatisfying, and what kind of daily routines are important to them. The children (N=32) carried

smartphones with them for one week. In the application a fairy-tale character Illi helps and

motivates the child to report daily moods and activities three times a day by mobile phone.

The questions are spoken and the child answers by speaking or pushing icons. The questions

concern daily activities, moods and transitions as well as good and challenging moments. The

cast of adults around the child (at home, at the care centre), using the same mobile

application, report on the childs wellbeing, too.

Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in diary research

Kaisa Malinen

Family Research Centre, University of Jyvskyl

As a data collection method diaries enable the collection of both quantitative and qualitative

data. This means that within the range of diary studies there can be found both those that use

this method to capture open descriptions of participants life as well as those collecting

information with structured questions and analyzing it with, for example, multilevel models.

Further, quantitative and qualitative approaches can be combined in one study. In the context

of diary research the use of mixed methods (i.e., combination of quantitative and qualitative

approaches) allows researchers to present and answer multiple types of research questionsand thus get a richer picture of daily life.

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This presentation illustrates the mixed methods approach to diary studies by using data

collected from 107 mothers and 88 fathers during a one-week time period using paper-and-

pencil method and mobile diaries as a part of the Palette study. This study focused on the

daily life of families with young, under school-aged children and the aim of using

quantitative and qualitative diary data was to identify factors that evoke positive and negative

family and relational dynamics.

Analyzing diary data: Multilevel approach

Kaisa Aunola

Department of Psychology, University of Jyvskyl

When analyzing diary data from quantitative point of view, multilevel modeling is a suitable

statistical tool. This method provides a proper way to treat the two different, inherent levels

of diary data: between-person leveldescribing individual differences in study variables andwithin-person leveldescribing variation ratherwithin than between individuals across time

(e.g., hour-to-hour, day-to-day, or week-to-week variation in certain constructs under

interest). By applying multilevel modeling, it is possible to answer various research questions

usually under interest when collecting diary data. These research questions include, for

example, to what extent certain study variables vary within-individuals and to what extent

they rather vary between than within individuals. If within-person variation (e.g., variation

from one day to another within-individual) is found, further questions may concern the

processes underling the found variability. It may be asked, for example, what are the

antecedents and consequences of daily experiences, what is the temporal dynamic between

two different constructs in daily life, and to what extent there are individual differences

(between-person variability) in these within-person processes.

Two examples applying multilevel modeling in diary data will be presented. The first one

focuses on the daily variation in childrens and parents emotions and emotion transmission

from one family member to another in daily interaction. Moreover, between-person

differences in this day-to-day dynamic are examined using childrens temperament and

parental well-being as moderators of emotion transmission. The second example focuses on

the day-to-day temporal dynamics between psychological control applied by parents in daily

interaction and childrens negative emotions. The both examples are based on the LIGHT

study. The participants of the LIGHT are 152 children in Grade 1 and their mothers, fathers

and teachers. In the presented examples, data gathered from mothers and fathers via

structured daily diaries across one week period in the Autumn term of the childrens firstgrade are used.