Q01
Message
All templatesCustomer Experience
Photo Diary Study: Product Use in Context
A repeatable diary entry participants complete each time they use your product in real life: a photo of the moment, what they were trying to do, and what got in the way — with an AI probe on the day's friction. Run it daily or weekly to see usage where it actually happens, not in a lab.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
8 questions · ~5 min
Q02
Multiple ChoiceRequired
When did this usage session happen?
- In the last hour
- Earlier today
- Yesterday
- Longer ago
Q03
Photo response
Share a photo of the moment — your setup, surroundings, or what you were working with. No faces or private info needed.
Q04
Short TextRequired
In one sentence: what were you trying to get done?
Q05
Opinion ScaleRequired
How smoothly did it go?
Scale: 1 – 5
Min:Major friction — nearly gave upMax:Completely smooth
Q06
Audio record
In your own words (30–60 seconds): walk me through what happened, like you're telling a colleague.
Q07
AI Interview
Probe today's diary entry: the exact moment friction appeared and what the participant did next, anything they used alongside the product (other apps, paper, asking someone), and whether this session was typical or unusual for them. Keep it short — two or three focused follow-ups; this is a recurring diary, not a full interview.
Q08
Message
Entry logged — thank you! See you at the next check-in. Patterns across your entries (and everyone else's) build the real picture of how the product lives in the world.
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Each entry pairs a photo of the real moment with a short AI probe on that day's friction — in-context evidence, not lab recall
- Voice-memo option captures the story the way participants would tell a colleague
- Entries are deliberately 3 minutes so longitudinal participation survives busy weeks
- Cross-entry patterns are assembled automatically into a usage-in-the-wild report
dscout
Diary Studies for Longitudinal UX ResearchA purpose-built longitudinal diary platform that captures photo, video, screen-recording, and text entries over days to years, with automated pacing reminders and playlist/highlight-reel analysis. Very strong on in-context multi-media capture and participant management, and the closest direct competitor to a guided-task style study.
What it does well
- Rich in-context capture: photo submissions, video, screen recordings, and text reflections from participants in the moment
- Multi-part study structures with automated pacing reminders to sustain engagement over long periods
- Analysis tooling: playlist builder with exportable highlight reels, collaborative commenting, and expressiveness ratings
- Precise participant targeting/recruitment for longitudinal panels
Where it falls short
- Entry prompts are fixed forms; no AI that reads a submission and asks an adaptive follow-up on that specific entry
- No live voice-AI interview to debrief a participant conversationally about a logged moment
- Synthesis relies on manual tagging and highlight-reel building rather than an auto-written report
- Prompt/question logic is not exposed transparently to the researcher
User Interviews
Diary Studies (UX Research Field Guide)A methodology chapter/template that covers the full diary-study lifecycle (planning, recruitment/onboarding, monitoring, debriefing, analysis) and defines interval-, signal-, and event-contingent logging protocols with sample prompts. Strong on rigor and entry-format variety, but it is guidance plus static forms rather than an adaptive interviewing engine.
What it does well
- Full five-phase lifecycle: planning, recruitment/onboarding, monitoring, debriefing, analysis
- Defines three logging protocols (interval-, signal-, and event-contingent) so studies match the behavior being observed
- Supports written, photo, and audio/video entry formats plus structured forms
- Sample prompts and a bias-avoidance emphasis (clear instructions without steering responses)
Where it falls short
- It is a field guide plus static entry forms, not a tool that adaptively probes each logged entry
- No voice-AI interviewer to run the debrief phase automatically
- Debrief/monitoring depend on the researcher's manual check-ins rather than automated follow-up
- Analysis is a manual code-and-synthesize step, not an auto-generated report
Frequently asked questions
What questions are in the “Photo Diary Study: Product Use in Context” template?
The template includes 8 ready-to-use questions, starting with: “Diary check-in time! This takes about 6 minutes. Your responses are completely confidential and anonymized. Answer for t…” · “When did this usage session happen?” · “Share a photo of the moment — your setup, surroundings, or what you were working with. No faces or private info needed.”. The full set is previewed above, and every question is editable.
How long does this survey take to complete?
Respondents typically finish the 8 questions in about 5 minutes.
Can I customize this template?
Yes — every question, answer option, and the ordering is editable before you launch. You can add or remove questions, or ask the AI editor to rework the survey around your research goal.
Is this template free to use?
Yes. Open it in the editor and start customizing right away — no account required to try it, and the free plan covers launching your survey.
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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