MSC Diaries – Diaries Research

About our diaries research work

Financial Diaries is a research methodology that collects data about how people manage money and provides insights from their lived experiences. Tracking financial data can give us deep insights into people’s lives:

Economic conditions
Health
Education
Food habits
Savings habits

Reasons why they take loans
Loan repayment behavior
Business management practices
Agriculture practices
Interaction with digital platforms, among other areas.

The Diaries approach goes beyond just tracking financial data and can be used to unpack different types of human behavior, attitudes, and practices. The approach explores the following in detail:

Gender norms—mobility, agency
Water and sanitation practices
Gig work

Climate change adaptation and mitigation
Digital behavior
Farming practices

The research uses a multi-pronged approach

Under this research, we use four distinct approaches to develop a holistic picture of the target groups’ journey over time to account for seasonality’s effects on their lives.

Financial Diaries approach to track daily financial transactions (income, expenses, savings deposited, savings withdrawn, loan repayments)

Thematic micro surveys, experiments, and action-research: conduct experiments, high-frequency repetitive surveys focused on specific thematic areas of interest, and develop interventions based on insights