Publications
In Brief In Depth Glossary Authors TitlesWhat's New
Library Articles Event Reviews Course Reviews Technology Reviews Association NewsQuick Answers
Running Projects Running Groups Careers in Qual Books and Reading ListGuidelines
Recruitment Guidelines Recruitment Checklist QR Terms and Conditions1 Second Everyday
If, like me, you struggle to remember what you did last month, let alone last year, you'll fall in love with my new favourite app: 1 Second Everyday.
I came across it not while reading tech blogs or scrolling through Twitter but watching a film proof that inspiration really is everywhere! Its pretty self-explanatory. You film one second of video every day and the app stitches these moments together into one continuous movie. Each clip is labelled with the date it was taken so that, when you look back, you can get a glimpse of what happened on each individual day.
1 Second Everyday is undoubtedly a great app for capturing memories but Id argue that it could also be a useful tool for qualitative research. Most obviously, you could ask respondents to use it over a period of weeks or months to capture the most significant moments in their lives. A second of video each day won't yield the deepest or most robust insights, but it will give stakeholders a flavour of their customers lives.
Arguably, the apps most valuable use might be as a way of prompting consumers to recall their past experiences. Its founder hopes that just one second will be enough to remind users of their entire day and he certainly has a point. Recording videos is certainly much easier than writing notes and video also has a much more powerful ability to bring back memories, thoughts and feelings than other means. As researchers we could harness this and use 1 Second Everyday as a pre-task. Just ask respondents to record daily activities for example, the foods they eat or their shopping trips and the videos could then act as visual cues to stimulate discussions in any subsequent qualitative research.
Emma Muckersie
Copyright © Association for Qualitative Research, 2016
About the author

Emma Muckersie
Emma is marketing manager at FreshMinds, an insight and innovation consultancy that helps global brands drive growth across three broad areas: consumer behaviour and market assessment, product development and communications development. A keen blogger, she runs and contributes regularly to the FreshMinds blog. Emma is also interested in digital trends and always keen to understand how the latest developments impact on consumer behaviour.
AQR Member Profile
Emma Muckersie
Articles by this author
April 2018
Chatbots: the latest addition to our qual toolkit?
January 2018
How the iPhone X will reshape our industry
October 2017
Facebook looks towards augmented reality
August 2017
Join The Party
May 2017
Free tools for better design
Full Index for this author
12 articles by Emma Muckersie