Using Solicited Written Qualitative Diaries to Develop Conceptual Understandings of Sleep

Abstract

This article presents the use of the solicited written qualitative sleep diary as a method for understanding sleep experience. The article reviews selected quantitative and qualitative research to contextualize contemporary sleep circumstances and concerns. It continues with a summary of previous diary applications in social scientific sleep research. The article then outlines the diary template, data collection procedures, and sampling. Diaries were received from a sample of 48 university students at a Canadian university campus who enrolled in a fourth-year course on sleep and society. The method’s analytical potential is highlighted by student accounts that construct meanings of sleep around academic accomplishments which are conceptualized as “rituals of obligation.” Students interpret sleep as a shutting off from ritual obligation. “Shut off” is observed in four ways: personalized management techniques, calendar rhythmicity, introspective bargaining, and the sleep fritter. The methodological discussion of the sleep diary echoes previously articulated observations about the method while offering additional strengths, precautions, and possibilities relating to the diary’s trustworthiness as a prioritized data collection method. The solicited written qualitative sleep diary benefits from its access and flexibility of participation, the encouragement of creative expression, the adoption of incentives and support mechanisms, and research reflexivity.