Abstract:

In the course of the readership analysis of medical journals in 1977 (LA-MED 77), a number of methodical experiments were carried out in addition to the standard interview with the aim of supporting the existing methods and acquiring additional information concerning reading habits. One of these experiments involved the attempt to acquire readership data with the aid of a diary. This diary experiment was run with approximately N=100 physicians who were recruited as a sub-sample out of the large main study involving N=2.000. As a result we had at our disposal for purposes of comparison the statements from the main interview and those from the diary from identical persons.