1. HETUS Pilot Group 1 Main characteristics of the survey Population and time covered by the survey
Hannu Pääkkönen – Group coordinator
Vesna Pantelic, Mirjana Ogrizovic Brasanac, Jonathan Gershuny, Kimberly Fisher

2. Starting points Comparability with previous surveys
Comparability between countries
13–14 January 2016

3. Topics covered by Pilot Group 1
Age
Include only residents of a country?
Number of diary days per respondent and the spread of sampled days across the week/year
Incorporating a longitudinal component (a diary panel study)
13–14 January 2016

4. Age Recommendations in 2000 and 2010: Persons of 10+ years, or 15+
Eight countries have an age limit 10+ years
Three countries have an age limit under 10 years
In four countries the age limit is over 10 years
Four countries have an upper age limit varying from 74 to 84 years
For temporal comparability, the recommended age limit should be 10 years and above
13–14 January 2016

5. Age – new needs Children’s time use
Pilot group 3: age limit lowered to 3 or 6 years
New instruments for small children needed
Use of proxies => response rates
No upper age limit => paper diaries needed
13–14 January 2016

6. Include only residents of a country?
Recommendations 2000 and 2010:
Resident population of the country living in private households
Temporary residents and people who have entered or remained in countries illegally are not included in any definition of the sampled population
Difficult to get information from illegal immigrants and homeless people
Study of these populations requires specialised surveys
Therefore, for the sample design and field work, the scope of the Time Use Survey should be the resident population of the country living in private households
13–14 January 2016

7. Number of diary days per respondent and the spread of sampled days across the week/year
Recommendations 2000 and 2010:
Two diary days per respondent, one weekday and one weekend day
The survey fieldwork should be spread over 12 consecutive months
In order that temporal comparison of the years 2000 and 2010 would be possible, the reference period should cover one year
The survey days/dates should be representative, and cover a full 12-month period, i.e. 365 consecutive days, inclusive of all religious or other public holidays, such as Easter, Midsummer, Christmas and New Year
13–14 January 2016

8. Survey year
Some countries have collected their surveys in later years than the recommended years for HETUS surveys => comparability?
Strategies to get more countries collecting fieldwork at the same time => legislation?
13–14 January 2016

9. Incorporating a longitudinal component (a diary panel study)
In some countries part of the Time Use Survey sample has been included in earlier Time Use Surveys
This has been justified by a more reliable examination of changes
Incorporating a longitudinal component should be considered with caution
If the time use of individuals or households is recorded only during two days, this would give biased information on the change in the time use of those individuals or households
Those two days can be coincidental in a person’s time use.
Panel samples are laborious to upkeep
13–14 January 2016

10. Possible pilots
A pilot might consider the feasibility of having a supplement subsample covering some institutionalised populations, like nursing homes.
Some countries have extended the period of data collection to improve response rates. Some testing of data quality across periods of collection in these cases, and piloting of response boosting strategies may provide information to enable more surveys to be successful in the recommended calendar year collection.
13–14 January 2016

11. Elements for other Pilot Groups
No upper age limit -> New data collection methodologies -> Pilot Group 2
Age limit under 10 years -> Child diaries -> Pilot Group 3
13–14 January 2016