Conducting Time-Use Surveys Employing Rigorous Methods to Produce Quality Data

Does it matter who you ask for time-use data?

“…Several studies have highlighted that time-use data collection is expensive and complex in nature, and the design of the survey is complex and has to be interlinked with other socio-demographic informationwhich is often weak in TUS (Esquivel et al 2008;Finlay et al 2019;Hirway 2021;Seymour et al 2020). Using an experimental setup, Field et al (2023) examine the collection of time-use data in the Indian context using a hybrid module, an enumerator-assisted method for time-use data collection.…”

“…Household surveys aim to collect accurate data by observing or eliciting responses from individuals within the household. However, measurement error, which represents the discrepancy between the actual, unknown value of the collected characteristic and the recorded survey response, is an inherent challenge in this process (Dillon and Mensah 2023;Hirway 2021). Various sources contribute to measurement error, including the respondents themselves, questionnaire design, data collection methods, and interviewers (Groves 2005).…”

“…Time-use data is difficult to collect in developing countries because there are many unstructured and marginal activities that tend to be carried out simultaneously (Esquivel et al 2008;Irani and Vemireddy 2021). Additionally, several studies have raised methodological issues in time-use measurements, such as the collection method (direct observation, time diary method, interview method, or stylized questions method), categorization of activities, and harmonization of time use (Field et al 2023;Hirway 2021;Kan 2008). However, measurement error in time-use reporting due to choice of respondent has rarely been investigated.…”

Third Agers in India: Empirical Evidence From Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), 2017–2018

“…Notwithstanding the issues of stylized questionnaire on time-use, it provides detailed information of activity logs on a 24-h recall period. As such, scholars working on the Global South (Hirway, 2017(Hirway, , 2021 have noted that in contexts where overall literacy levels are low, these modular time-use questionnaires are more common since they are less expensive and easy to conduct without having the respondents themselves fill out the time-diaries. The response rate for the overall data collection for individual questionnaires through interviews was 95.57% (see 4 ) but for time-use module the response rate was much lower, as per our analysis of the time-use segment.…”

Does it matter who you ask for time-use data?

“…Time-use data is difficult to collect in developing countries because there are many unstructured and marginal activities that tend to be carried out simultaneously (Esquivel et al 2008;Irani and Vemireddy 2021). Additionally, several studies have raised methodological issues in time-use measurements, such as the collection method (direct observation, time diary method, interview method, or stylized questions method), categorization of activities, and harmonization of time use (Field et al 2023;Hirway 2021;Kan 2008). However, measurement error in time-use reporting due to choice of respondent has rarely been investigated.…”