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A Short History of Time (and reflections on its future)

A Short History of Time (and reflections on its future). Jonathan Gershuny Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex. Outline. Not “sociology of time” social construction and regulation. Instead: observation of temporal extent of activities.

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A Short History of Time (and reflections on its future)

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  1. A Short History of Time (and reflections on its future) Jonathan Gershuny Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex

  2. Outline • Not “sociology of time” • social construction and regulation. • Instead: • observation of temporal extent of activities. • What follows discusses: • variations in data collection methodologies, • issues in use of time diaries • and future technological developments.

  3. History of time-diary collection 1 • Pepys/Star Trek connection • Lenin’s NEP –Strumilin (1927) • Exported to US – Sorokin (1939) • Fabians in the UK – Pember-Reeves (1913) • ‘30s UK: Mass Obs., Audience Research • Working-class women – Moser (1949)

  4. History of time-diary collection 2 • National studies in at least 83 countries, visit <http://iser.essex.ac.uk/mtus/technical.php> • Cross-national comparative studies: • Szalai UNESCO “Use of Time” study (1965) • Harmonised European Time Use Study (2000) • Multinational Time Use Study (’60s2001) • new American Time Use Study (2004)

  5. Methodological alternatives • Stylised estimates – inaccurate • observational methods – expensive • admin records – inflexible/inappropriate • diary methods – approach of choice

  6. Diary method—pros and cons advantages • Continuous, complete, • Self-balancing exaggeration and avoidance, no double counting • Sequential, allows matching of multiple household members’ simultaneous activities disadvantages • Under-reporting undesirable, embarrassing, sensitive activities

  7. Diary design choices • “yesterday” vs “tomorrow” self-completion • event sequence vs schedule with timeslots • open own words vs closed activity vocabulary • Single/multiple simultaneous/hierarchical record • Where? Who co-present? Who for? Affect? • Individual vs household, length of obs. aperture

  8. Diary data collection • Basic design issue: • “heavy” provides full record, relatively low response rate versus • “light” less comprehensive, higher response rate.

  9. Example of diary data (HETUS) Four recording domains • main activity: “What did you do?” • parallel or secondary activity: “Did you do anything else? If so, what?” • co-presence: “Were you alone or together with somebody you know, if so, who?” • location (including mode of transport)

  10. Use of multiple reporting domains Using different domains together: • Simultaneous activities • Combining activity and co-presence • Measurement of childcare as example ONS/ESRC UK 2000 time-use study (HETUS)

  11. 1640 minutes in a day? The problem: • How to represent multiple diary domains simultaneously?

  12. Which childcare estimate to choose? Depends on policy focus: • Provision of childcare services  primary • Custodial functions  primary+secondary+copresence • General purposes  some intermediate

  13. Time-Use: The Future New/unfamiliar modes of diary data collection • Telephone – internet – diary panels New technologies for automatic registration • GPS, cellphones, for locational information • CCTV, unobtrusive medical instrumentation for activity monitoring But still need for diary registration to establish activity purpose.

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