Paper or plastic? Data equivalence in paper and electronic diaries

Area of Science:

• Psychological research methods
• Data collection techniques
• Health informatics

Background:

• Participant compliance is crucial for data integrity in diary studies.
• Concerns exist regarding lower compliance rates with paper-and-pencil diaries compared to electronic alternatives.
• The impact of compliance issues on data quality requires thorough investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess participant compliance in paper-and-pencil versus electronic diary studies.
• To evaluate the effects of compliance on data quality.
• To determine the psychometric and statistical equivalence of data from both diary formats.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted to investigate compliance and data quality.
• Study 1 utilized random signals to prompt diary entries, comparing them to self-reported completion times.
• Studies 2 and 3 employed psychometric and statistical analyses to compare paper and electronic diary data.

Main Results:

• Random signals in Study 1 indicated plausible participant compliance, aligning with self-reported times.
• Psychometric and statistical analyses in Studies 2 and 3 revealed largely equivalent data between paper and electronic formats.
• Minor exceptions did not significantly impact overall data comparability.

Conclusions:

• Paper-and-pencil diary methods demonstrate acceptable participant compliance.
• Data obtained from paper diaries are largely equivalent to electronic formats in terms of quality and findings.
• Concerns about the validity of paper diary methods are partially alleviated by these findings.