Comparer des méthodes

	Méthode du journal	Notes de terrain	Observation participante	Journal de recherche
Domaine	Méthodologie d'enquête	Méthodologie d'enquête	Recherche qualitative	Méthodologie d'enquête
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	1920s–1940s (systematised by Allport, 1942)	Late 19th century (formalized in 20th century)	1922	1981 (methodological codification); diary use in research dates to 19th-century anthropology
Auteur d'origine	Gordon Allport (systematic social-science use); Nels Anderson (early fieldwork diaries)	Rooted in 19th-century anthropology and sociology; systematized by ethnographers such as Bronislaw Malinowski and later Robert Emerson et al.	Bronislaw Malinowski	Robert G. Burgess (systematic methodological treatment)
Type	Qualitative / mixed-methods data-collection technique	Qualitative data collection and recording technique	Method	Qualitative data collection and reflexivity tool
Source fondatrice	Alaszewski, A. (2006). Using Diaries for Social Research. Sage. ISBN: 978-0761941415	Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0226206813	Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. ISBN: 978-0465026432	Burgess, R. G. (1981). Keeping a research diary. Cambridge Journal of Education, 11(1), 75–83.
Alias	diary study, diary technique, self-report diary, daily diary method	fieldnotes, observational notes, ethnographic notes, jottings	ethnographic observation, participatory observation, overt observation, immersive observation	researcher diary, field diary, research journal, reflexive diary
Apparentées	5	6	4	6
Résumé	The diary method is a data-collection technique in which participants record their thoughts, behaviours, events, or experiences in their own words at regular or event-contingent intervals over a defined study period. By capturing data close in time to the event, diaries reduce retrospective recall bias and give researchers access to the texture of everyday life as it unfolds — something one-off surveys and retrospective interviews cannot provide.	Field notes are detailed written records created by researchers during or immediately after direct observation in a naturalistic setting. They capture what is seen, heard, and experienced — including behaviors, interactions, physical environments, and the researcher's own analytic impressions — forming the primary data source for ethnographic and observational studies.	Participant observation is a qualitative research method in which the researcher embeds themselves within a community, organization, or social setting for an extended period, engaging in the activities and relationships of the group while systematically observing and documenting behavior, interactions, and cultural meaning. Pioneered by Malinowski in the 1920s and developed in anthropology, the method has been adopted across sociology, education, health sciences, and organizational research. The researcher functions as both insider (participating in group activities) and outsider (maintaining analytical distance), generating thick description—rich accounts of context, behavior, and meaning that reveal how people actually live and interact.	A research diary is a systematic, dated log maintained by the researcher throughout a study to record methodological decisions, emergent observations, analytical hunches, and reflections on researcher positionality. Unlike a participant diary, it is authored by the researcher and functions simultaneously as a data source, an audit trail, and a reflexivity instrument.