Diary as a device in multicenter research

Abstract

This article is linked with a multicenter study conducted from 2013 to 2015 in four different scenarios or cities: São Paulo, Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, and Recife. It aims to present the use of Research Diary (RD) as a device of the Institutional Analysis, which made it possible to explore different dimensions of experiences of diary researchers and restore the analysis of the implications that have occurred in the movements provoked in and through the experiences of this multicenter project. The use of research diary in fieldworks was common practice among project team members. The production of records as diaries, from the perspective of Institutional Analysis, made it possible to analyze the implications of the researchers, opposing the idea of subject neutrality in the research. As an interventional device, research diaries allowed an articulation between diary researchers of the four scenarios with their different knowledge and experiences, in daily buccal health, triggering heterogeneities and encouraging them to write, reflecting on their activities in the clinic, and above all, to share the writing of these experiences with others, which has had an effect on the clinical innovation processes.