Using Advance Diaries in a Telephone Time Use Survey Lisa Schwartz, Lisa Lee, Cathy Haggerty and Diane Herz IATUR October 2002

Background: Early design decisions CPS Sample control –Smaller sample Updated phone numbers Fewer questions/respondents…lower respondent burden CATI Cost effective survey method Statistics Canada success Westat pilot success Population National: BLS mission

Advisory panels recommendations Sources of information: FESAC Survey methodologists Other time use researchers Send paper diary with advance materials Respondents know what to expect Aids recall of easily forgotten information

Operational issues Paper diary instructions What should respondents record in the advance diary? Diary + CATI data collection protocol How should the interviewing procedures be modified for diary users? Appointment setting Results from 2001 Field Test on Proactive Appointment Setting

Data quality issues Higher quality data with advance diaries Fewer gaps in memory More time anchors Poorer quality data with advance diaries Unwilling to provide detail above whats already been recorded in the diary

Response rate issues Possible adverse affect on response Operational challenges More information about nature of the survey could lead to more refusals Increased respondent burden

Experimental design Split-ballot research design ½ sample received diary with advance materials RDD sample Cell quotas Nationally representative 15-years old and older Goal: 550 completed cases

Cell quotas: 24 cells total Diary condition Diary/No diary Type of household Youngest child < 13 Youngest child No children Type of respondent Employed/Not employed Reporting day Weekday/Weekend

Procedures: Initial screening Initial screening call Establish household eligibility Select respondent to meet cell quota Schedule appointment CATI (10-days later) Mail out advance materials Assign reporting day Weekday or weekend interview

Procedures: Telephone interview Reminder phone call day prior to interview Second mail out if: Advance materials not received Missed appointment Diary not completed Diary completed for wrong day/date. Crossover to no-diary condition Diary not completed or completed incorrectly second time.

Procedures: Diary + CATI protocol Advance diary instructions Emphasized use as recall aid Record major activities Roster of respondents activities Interviewer recorded on paper the activities that respondents recorded in diary Referred to roster during CATI I wrote down that at 11:00 AM, you were grocery shopping. Is that correct? Is that what you did next?

Results All data has been collected but has not been analyzed. Quantitative data is unavailable at this point in time. We are only presenting the results from interviewer debriefings today.

Interviewer perceptions Final interviewer debriefing: July 9 th 462 completed cases Rostering technique Very time-consuming Instrument modification needed Advance diary interview Interview flowed more smoothly Better able to facilitate recall, work between recorded entries in diary. Reduced burden during telephone interview Increased burden overall

Operational challenges Mail out procedures 10-day delay resulted in too many missed appointments FedEx 2-day delay Reduced refusals and missed appointments Legitimized organizations to respondents. Screening Difficulty finding eligible respondents to meet precise cell quotas Collapsed across cells to facilitate recruitment.

Recommendations Send advance diary as recall aid Do not make completing diary obligatory Do not require appointment setting Modify instrument to allow non-sequential time entries Do not use activity roster technique in production