Andrew S. Harvey

Guidelines for time use data collection

Growing and widespread interest in time begs the need for time use data collection and reporting standards. Initial guidance for comparative work was provided by the Multinational Time Use Project. However, changing technologies, methodologies, and divergent data needs have given rise to the need for updated guidance. This paper, prepared with input from members of the International Association for Time Use Research, examines the history and applications of time use data, identifies and evaluates methodological options for time use studies, recommends options facilitating cross-national and cross-temporal comparability and identifies methodological challenges facing time use researchers. The study concludes that alternative collection methods appear to make little difference in the resulting activity and time use estimates at customary levels of reporting.

Spatial context and the complexity of daily travel patterns : an international comparison

The analysis of travel patterns is an important research topic in transportation research and urban planning. It provides the background information necessary to better understand the complex relationship between urban structure, the transportation system and household travel patterns. To what extent do travel behaviour reflect the properties of the urban structure and the transportation network, or do these patterns largely follow their own regularities? Can different patterns be observed across different space-time settings, or can common patterns be observed, largely independent from such contexts? To better understand these relationships, this paper reports on some of the findings of analyses, conducted to identify underlying structures in various aspects of travel patterns. Travel patterns, derived from activity and travel diary data collected in Portland (USA), Midlands (UK), Fukuoka (Japan), Canadian metropolitan areas, and the South-Rotterdam region (The Netherlands) are compared. The results indicate that travel patterns are largely independent from spatial setting, except for some extreme cases.

ACTIVITY SETTINGS AND TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR: A SOCIAL CONTACT PERSPECTIVE

Using time-use data from Canada, Norway, and Sweden, this study briefly outlines the essence of the activity setting approach and illustrates one aspect of its usefulness by exploring the impact of social contact on travel behaviour. The activity system approach views behaviour in context. Activity settings are generic components of the activity system and studying them using time-use diaries can provide major insights into travel behaviour. Focusing on social contact, this paper characterizes the social environment in terms of social circle (interaction partners) and social space (location). The analysis shows that there are clear differences in the levels of social interaction across various groups, including those who work at home. The 1992 Canadian data showed people working at the workplace spend relatively more time with others, about 50% of total time awake. Working at home reduced the time with others to a low of 15.7%. when people worked at home the family benefited, almost doubling the time spent with them compared to those working at the workplace. Persons working at home only spend the most time alone. There is a tendency for persons with low social interaction to travel more. It is argued that individual need, or want, social contact and if they cannot find it at the workplace they will seek it elsewhere thus generating travel. Whether this is the result of need or opportunity is of minor relevance, what it does suggest is that working in isolation at home will not necessarily diminish travel but rather may simply change its purpose.

Time use studies for leisure analysis.

Approaches to activity measurement capable of capturing nuances necessary to appropriately identify and classify leisure activities are needed. Of the several existing measurement approaches the time diary is one of the most promising. Time diaries facilitate the recording of the total flow of activities and attendant objective and subjective dimensions. Areas of particular concern in the conduct of time diary studies are activity coding, the interview approach, and the selection of diary days. Time use data can be studied at both the macro and micro level. At the micro level one can study time points, individuals and events. At the macro level it is meaningful to study subpopulations, bundles of time and aggregated events. Analytically, a holistic approach must be taken with several dimensions, which compose the activity setting, being considered concurrently.

Quality of life and the use of time theory and measurement

Abstract The potential use of occupational science is its application to improving quality of life and well‐being. The efficient design of interventions which attempt to bring about improvements in well‐being and quality of life presuppose they can be meaningfully measured. While well‐being and quality of life measures are most frequently considered at a macro‐scale, they are equally, if not more, important in the context of daily living. This paper examines the role of time use studies, in relation to existing theory, in the measurement of well‐being and quality of life, focusing on the methodological contribution they can make.

Canadian Activity Patterns Across the Life Span: A Time Budget Perspective

Previous research on activity patterns of the elderly has relied on survey and interview methods which have depended on special measures and the long term memory of the respondents. This paper examines the use of time budgets in studying changing activity patterns across the life span. The independent variables of interest in this analysu were age, sex, marital status, education, and whether or not the individual lives alone. The dependent variable was the activity patterns of the individual. Results indicate that only age, of the factors considered here, endured significance across all comparisons.

Stage of Lifecycle and Time Spent in Activities

Leisure recreation patterns of people have been investigated using a variety of methodologies.3,5,6,7,8. Historically age has been used as a predictor of participation. It has been postulated that age may be closely related to stage of a persons lifecycle. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if stage of lifecycle affects a persons activity patterns using the General Social Survey time budget data.11 This study indicates that activity patterns may be related to the presence or absence of children, the presence or absence of a significant other. It appears that roles (married, not married, divorced, presence of children, presence of significant other, employed, unemployed) impact on time allocations and activity selection.

Time use and leisure: Subjective and objective aspects

This paper utilizes data from the 1981 Canadian Time Use Pilot Study and from a small Halifax time-budget study to look at subjective and contextual dimensions of leisure for women and men. The Canadian study (n=2685) had information on the time spent in daily activities as well as on the settings and social contexts of those activities. The Halifax study included similar time-budget information on 60 married couples, but also incorporated subjective ratings of all diary events in terms of perceived work or leisure. Using subjective weightings from the Halifax study, estimates of subjective leisure were made for different categories of daily activity and for different Canadian population subgroups. Hypercodes were used to look at the effect of social roles on leisure time, and the AID procedure was used to analyze the contextual dimensions of leisure for men and women. The results show that objective activity and well as subjective leisure vary by population subgroup. Constraints to leisure include being female, being employed, having children, and, to some degree, being married. Of the contextual dimensions, subjective leisure was shown to be influenced primarily by type of objective activity. Location, time of day and day of the week also influenced leisure designations, but to a lesser extent. This study suggests the potential usefulness of subjective weightings of activities in order to gain a greater understanding of leisure patterns and participation.

TIME ALLOCATION IN URBAN AND TRANSPORT SETTINGS: AN INTERNATIONAL, INTER-URBAN PERSPECTIVE

This paper reports the findings of analyses, conducted to identify regularities and differences underlying various aspects of activity-travel patterns across a set of cities, regions in the world. Activity-travel patterns, derived from activity diary data collected in Portland (USA), Midlands (UK), Fukuoka (Japan), Canadian metropolitan areas, and the South-Rotterdam region (The Netherlands) are compared. The results indicate that although idiosyncratic differences exist between the city regions, there is also considerable evidence of similarities between the city regions.

The measurement of household time allocation: Data needs, analytical approaches, and standardization

Public policy designed to improve well-being or alter social behavior has too often been ineffective because of the lack of knowledge of the nature or the trends that force people to select given time allocation patterns. In the recent past, however, there has been a growing recognition of the need to research and understand the distribution of total time to improve the ability of governments to design more effective policies. This article introduces the concept of time use measurement, reviews the development of time use research, and identifies the following key considerations for its improvement. First, a standard activity coding scheme capable of handling the nuances of time use in the more developed and developing countries and across the broad range of possible subpopulations must be developed and accepted. Second, a solid integration of objective and subjective measures into time use data collection, meeting multidisciplinary needs, must be achieved. Third, a movement toward the contextual setting of activities through episodal analysis is needed, which may mean the development of new analytical procedures and technology. Finally, it is necessary to reach a consensus on desired time-based economic, social, and psychological indicators.