Time-Use Resources for National Statistics (TURNS)

Lead Research Organisation: University College London
Department Name: Social Science

Abstract

Time-use diary (TUD) surveys collect detailed, continuous accounts of what people do throughout complete days. They ask respondents to list each successive episode through an entire day, describing the main activity, any other simultaneous activity, location, and presence of other people, as well as other characteristics such as whether the diarist was using a smartphone/computer. Samples of diarists, randomly selected across populations and across the days of the year, therefore provide nationally representative quantitative evidence of how the entire society spends its time. The Centre for Time Use Research (CTUR) has a leading international role in the design, collection and analysis of these materials.
TUD data provide crucial information on economic activity, population lifestyles, welfare and wellbeing:
1. They allow estimates of the extent not just of paid work but also of those sorts of unpaid and voluntary work, in households and community groups, that are not included in conventional measures of National Product (e.g. GNP).
2. Many TUD surveys also include measures of how diarists enjoy each activity, increasingly recognised as a direct measure of subjective wellbeing, and survey items on life satisfaction and overall happiness.
3. They provide detailed information about durations and rates of participation in sedentary activities, meals and snacking, physical exertion and sleep; behaviours which have important implications for both physical and psychological health.
4. They provide comprehensive daily evidence of the type and duration of activities, combined with their spatial location and who respondents were with at the time, permitting estimation of the behavioural transmission risk of infectious diseases.
5. Each daily activity also has a "footprint" of environmental impact on energy demand and the production of environmental pollutants, meaning that nationally representative diary studies are important inputs to modelling of global environmental change.
This proposal has two elements, one methodological and one substantive. Traditional 'pen and paper' TUD surveys are relatively burdensome for respondents, who are required to enter full details of daily sequences of (on average) 18 to 20 (but often more) different activities. On the methodological side, there is a developing need for survey collection methods that take full advantage of modern online and smartphone technologies. We are proposing an innovative experimental programme of data collection, testing the efficacy of various survey instrument designs deploying these technologies, and comparing them with the traditional instruments that are still employed in the Harmonised European Time Use Survey organised by the European Statistical Agency. We are collaborating actively with the UK Office of National Statistics, which is contributing data from its own pilot online time use diary survey, with the aim of contributing to a new programme of TUD data collection.
Collecting nationally representative TUDs provides a promising potential for the estimation of new social indicators. Gross National Product (GNP) is widely understood, among economists and others, as an incomplete basis for understanding population wellbeing, since wellbeing might, for example, actually decline as GNP grows, perhaps as a consequence of simultaneously increasing hours of paid or unpaid work. We will use the data we collect, alongside other existing surveys, in a programme of substantive research focusing on the development of a "dashboard" of new statistical indicators to complement GNP. These will include: indicators of levels of economic activity including the value of unpaid work; measures of population health risks (in relation to both chronic and infection disease); measures of subjective and objective wellbeing; and measures of the environmental impact of day-by-day activity; all estimated from the same TUD information base
 
Description Development of systematic principles for online time-use diary data collection, ongoing commission from ONS to develop these.
Exploitation Route Ongoing work in collaboration with the Office of National Statistics, and the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence, in developing and extending the ONS collection of time use statistics
Sectors Environment

Healthcare

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Transport

 
Title 6 Wave UK Time use Study ("CaDDI: Click and Drag Diary Instrument" (covering COVID period 2016-2021 
Description Six wave of time use diary data, covering UK in 2016, then first lockdown and subsequent stages, used for assessing extent of infection risky vs risk-averse activity. Various publications including Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact dayasey to used in epidemiological models of infection related to daily activity patterns 
 
Title Centre for Time Use Research UK Time Use Survey 6-Wave Sequence across the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2016-2021 
Description In 2016 the Centre for Time Use Research developed an online Click and Drag Diary Instrument (CaDDI), collecting population-representative (quota sample) time use diary data from Dynata's large international market research panel across 9 countries. We fielded the same instrument using the UK panel across the COVID-19 pandemic: in May-June 2020 during the first lockdown; in late August 2020 following the relaxation of social restrictions; in November 2020 during the second lockdown; in January 2021 during the third lockdown; and in August/September 2021 after the lifting of restrictions. Each survey wave collected between 1-3 time use diaries per respondent, recording activities, location, co-presence, device use, and enjoyment across continuous 10-minute episodes throughout the diary day. The accompanying individual screening questionnaire included information on the standard socio-demographic variables, and a diary day questionnaire containing additional health and diary day related questions was added during wave 2. Overall, 6896 diaries were collected across the 6 waves, allowing analysis of behavioural change between a baseline (in 2016), three national lockdowns, and two intervening periods of the relaxation of social restrictions. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact In 2016 CTUR developed an online time use diary; the Click and Drag Diary Instrument (CaDDI), collecting population-representative (quota sample) diary information from Dynata's large international market research panel across 9 countries. We fielded the same instrument using the UK panel during the COVID-19 pandemic: in May-June 2020 during the first lockdown; in late August 2020 following the relaxation of social restrictions; in November 2020 during the second lockdown; in January 2021 during the third lockdown; and in August/September 2021 after the lifting of restrictions. The data allows comparison of detailed accounts of population behaviour (activities, location and co-presence) across 3 lockdowns and 2 periods of the relaxation of restrictions. 
URL https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=8741