Methodological developments in time use research |
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| Convenor | Miss Emily Gilbert (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education ) |
| Coordinator 1 | Dr Stella Chatzitheochari (University of Warwick) |
The Millennium Cohort Study is the first study that uses a mixed-method approach (web, App, paper) for the collection of time-use among teenagers. Cohort members are asked to choose their mode of preference, while a paper alternative is offered to those who do not have Smartphone/Internet access. Participants are asked to complete a weekday and a weekend diary, and to wear an accelerometer during the designated days. This presentation discusses the development of MCS time diaries for the Age 14 Survey and reports dress rehearsal findings on take-up mode and data quality across different modes.
More time use surveys use phone apps or web collection to expand the range of information collected while decreasing respondent burden and survey costs. These new modes change reporting in subtle but significant ways, prompting more short spontaneous activities, particularly movement between places and use of electronic communications. New modes also register details not necessarily noticed by participants, revealing a need for mixed mode tests to retain comparability with the rich history of time use data. This presentation uses a time diary surveys conducted in the UK by the Centre for Time Use Research from 2011 to 2015.
The official time use surveys produce little information about how people spent their time ‘at work’. Collecting the data via smartphones and using a combination of ‘random time sampling’ and the ‘intensive hour’, I have overcome the problems of excessive respondent burden and fears of self-incrimination. I will present pilot data from two professions showing that this techniques yields accurate data on hours worked, detailed information on sub-tasks and work flow (by season, day of the week and time of day). In addition, I will demonstrate, using this technique capturest real-time subjective information about ‘job
Time use diaries collect a continuous sequenced record of daily activities. This study tests the feasibility of using wearable camera images to assess their validity. Fourteen volunteers completed the HETUS diary and used an Autographer wearable camera for the waking hours of the same 24-hour period. Participants also completed a ‘reconstruction’ interview using the camera images as prompts to reconstruct their daily activities. We compared time use from the diary and camera records finding no significant difference between the samples in the aggregate totals of daily activities. The visualisations of the individual activity sequences reveal some potentially important differences.
Contemporary society is characterized by fragmentation, acceleration and spatial dispersion of the activities that make up daily life. Stable practices or daily routines are assumed to help us succeed in a society where ‘busyness’, multiple roles and multiple commitments are (normative) characteristics of a valued life. As a result people replace the choice for these activities by the routine of activities; what we do now is what we did before. This contribution introduces an innovative way to measure the routine of daily activities in general or the routine of one specific activity using time-use data.