Task-Diaries: A Valuable Qualitative Tool for Occupational Health Research on Teacher Workloads

• Published in: International Journal of Qualitative Methods
• Main Author: Newhook, Julia Temple
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2012
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/160940691201100509; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/160940691201100509; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/160940691201100509

This article discusses the usefulness of a qualitative tool called a “task-diary,” in combination with individual in-depth interviews, for occupational health research on teacher workloads. I describe my use of task-diaries to examine primary and elementary teachers' workloads in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, discuss the most useful aspects of task-diaries for this research, and suggest further applications of this tool in the workload research field.