Elite Research Statistical Consulting

At the heart of your research is the data or information that you need to answer your research questions and achieve your research goals. You may require direct interaction with people, tangible experiences, or indirect information found in a museum. Each type of data collected has unique procedures in which we can provide expert advice.

Journaling

What is it? Journaling is an activity done by researchers or participants to record their thoughts about activities within a study or the process involved in a research project.

The aim of journaling is to facilitate reflection, critical analysis, and self-analysis. Researchers sometimes use journaling to record and reflect on research activities and as a reflexive approach that is often expected in qualitative research designs. Journaling can help a researcher acknowledge their own values, experiences, and biases which may influence the researcher’s interpretation of the data. Recognizing and writing about these components through journaling can enhance the transparency of the researcher’s role and research process.

Journaling can also be used with research participants to gain insight on lived experiences and personal awareness that interviews and focus groups may not capture. It is useful in verifying other forms of data collected in case studies, ethnography, and phenomenological research projects. Recently, voice diaries have been used by researchers and participants in settings where literacy and/or willingness to write were challenging.

Journaling can be recorded in different ways. It can be written as a letter to oneself or another person. It can be a free writing activity or have structured questions answered for each entry. However, the primary researcher makes those decisions or suggestions to participants.

The format and the use of journal entries may change over the course of your project. Our consultants can provide coaching on the skills to maximize your journal entries or how to introduce the activity to participants.