Investigating the Social Ecology of Daily Experience Using Computerized Structured Diaries: Physical Activity Among Mexican-American Young Adults

JASON A. DECARO*

ERIN DECARO

University of Alabama

DAVID H. ASHLEY

University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine

In press, Field Methods

* To whom correspondence should be addressed at:

Jason A. DeCaro

Department of Anthropology

University of Alabama

Box 870210

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487

jdecaro@as.ua.edu

ABSTRACT

This report describes Daily Life Architecture (DLA), a structured retrospective diary method developed to document daily experience and place it into social and cultural context. We also discuss open-access PROUST software that implements DLA for handheld computers, allowing participants to create 24 hr self-report records regarding nearly any domain of experience that can be described through discrete categories. Drawing from a study of the social contexts of physical activity among Mexican-American young adults, we describe DLA data collection and validation procedures. Daily Life Architecture data are amenable to both quantitative and qualitative analysis, bolstering the methodological toolkit for social and cultural epidemiology, and for ecocultural approaches to child and adolescent development.