"Using Diary Methods to Study Trauma-Related Dyadic and Family Processes"

Diary methods allow researchers to examine dyadic and family processes within the context of daily life in a way that is typically not possible with traditional methods. In addition, diary methods can provide unique insights into trauma-related processes in dyads and families. In this talk, I provide a brief history and overview of diary methods. I review methodological strengths associated with the use of diary methods and the types of questions that can be addressed for studying relationship processes. I also touch upon relevant technological issues related to the collection of diary data. Moreover, dyadic and family data acquired via diary methods present several data analytic challenges stemming from various sources of interdependence in the data. Traditional statistical methods (e.g., ANOVA, regression) typically focus on observations that are independently sampled, whereas dyadic and family diary data are nonindependent by their nature. Not only is there nonindependence between members of dyad or family, but also nonindependence of observations within a dyad or family member. Statistical approaches that can model the multiple sources of interdependence are most useful for analysis. An analytic application of dyadic daily diary data focused on trauma-related processes will be presented.