IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/leu/journl/2014vol11issue1p73-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modular Online Time Use Survey (MOTUS) – Translating an existing method in the 21st century

Author

Listed:
  • Joeri Minnen

    (Sociology Department, Research Group TOR, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Abstract

Time-use surveys are internationally highly valued methods for capturing daily behaviour. Their combination of questionnaires and paper-and-pencil time-diaries (among others in Europe) or telephone interview yesterday-method (in USA) through which respondents (re)construct their daily activities (i.e. what and when) together with contextual information (i.e. with whom and where) is both its strength as well as its weakness. This weakness stems from the high (personnel) costs involved in conducting time-use surveys, costs that can largely be reduced by switching to an online method. However, recent experimenting with online time-use surveys a) jeopardizes the hard work of harmonizing international time-use surveys and b) never truly copied or implemented the methodology of the paper-and-pencil time diaries let alone added additional features that improve the ‘old’ method. After having received a substantial grant we took the challenge to translate this existing method to an online method a) without loosing its strengths, b) with adding additional features that enrich the data even more, and c) with automated processes that reduce personnel and processing costs. In this contribution we a) reveal our method and its modular design and automated processes, b) provide preliminary results of the quality and response of the population pilot study, c) evaluate our effort, d) challenge others to comment and collaborate on our methodology in order to end up with a (new) standardized methodology for online diary studies that allows cross-national comparisons, and e) reflect on future possibilities and initiatives that serve the imminent online diary methodology.

Suggested Citation

  • Joeri Minnen, 2014. "Modular Online Time Use Survey (MOTUS) – Translating an existing method in the 21st century," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 11(1), pages 73-93, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:leu:journl:2014:vol11:issue1:p73-93
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eijtur.org/pdf/volumes/eIJTUR-11-1-5_Minnen.pdf#page=74
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. -, 2013. "Redistributing care: the policy challenge," Cuadernos de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37055 edited by Eclac, September.
    2. Christopher Carpenter & Gary Gates, 2008. "Gay and lesbian partnership: Evidence from California," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(3), pages 573-590, August.
    3. -, 2013. "Redistributing care: the policy challenge," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 101 edited by Eclac.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minnen, Joeri & Glorieux, Ignace & van Tienoven, Theun Pieter, 2015. "Transportation habits: Evidence from time diary data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 25-37.
    2. Stella Chatzitheochari & Kimberly Fisher & Emily Gilbert & Lisa Calderwood & Tom Huskinson & Andrew Cleary & Jonathan Gershuny, 2018. "Using New Technologies for Time Diary Data Collection: Instrument Design and Data Quality Findings from a Mixed-Mode Pilot Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 379-390, May.
    3. Daum, T. & Birner, R. & Buchwald, H. & Gerlicher, A., 2018. "Times have changed. Using a Pictorial Smartphone App to Collect Time Use Data in Rural Zambia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277076, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. te Braak Petrus & Minnen Joeri & Glorieux Ignace, 2020. "The Representativeness of Online Time Use Surveys. Effects of Individual Time Use Patterns and Survey Design on the Timing of Survey Dropout," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 36(4), pages 887-906, December.
    5. Daum, Thomas & Buchwald, Hannes & Gerlicher, Ansgar & Birner, Regina, 2018. "Using A Smartphone App To Collect Data On Smallholder Farming Systems In Zambia," 58th Annual Conference, Kiel, Germany, September 12-14, 2018 275839, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    6. Bigoni, Maria & Bortolotti, Stefania & Fort, Margherita & Guarini, Annalisa & Iorio, Daniela & Monfardini, Chiara & Sansavini, Alessandra & Sansone, Davide & Suttora, Chiara, 2023. "A New Time-Use Diary App to Measure Parental Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 16661, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Minnen Joeri & Rymenants Sven & Glorieux Ignace & Tienoven Theun Pieter van, 2023. "Answering Current Challenges of and Changes in Producing Official Time Use Statistics Using the Data Collection Platform MOTUS," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 39(4), pages 489-505, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smaranda Pantea, 2014. "Has the digital divide been reversed? – Evidence from five EU countries," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 11(1), pages 13-42, December.
    2. Benedek Kovács & Lajos Bálint, 2014. "Explaining sleep time – Hungarian evidences," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 11(1), pages 43-56, December.
    3. William Michelson, 2014. "Unraveling the mystery of sleep duration dynamics – Sleep in the objective and subjective lives of employed men and women," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 11(1), pages 57-72, December.
    4. Georgios Papastefanou & Jonathan Gruhler, 2014. "Social status differentiation of leisure activities variation over the weekend – Approaching the voraciousness thesis by a sequence complexity measure," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Murtazashvili, Irina & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2016. "A control function approach to estimating switching regression models with endogenous explanatory variables and endogenous switching," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 190(2), pages 252-266.
    6. Verónica Amarante & Cecilia Rossel, 2018. "Unfolding Patterns of Unpaid Household Work in Latin America," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 1-34, January.
    7. Benvin, Evelyn & Rivera, Elizabeth & Tromben, Varinia, 2016. "A multidimensional time use and well-being index: a proposal for Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    8. Michael E. Martell & Peyton Nash, 2020. "For Love and Money? Earnings and Marriage Among Same-Sex Couples," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 260-294, September.
    9. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Gonzales, Gilbert & McKay, Tara & Sansone, Dario, 2020. "Effects of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Mandate on Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals in Same-Sex Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 13119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jamie H. Douglas & Michael D. Steinberger, 2015. "The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap for Racial Minorities," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 59-108, January.
    11. Jepsen, Christopher & Jepsen, Lisa K., 2009. "Does home ownership vary by sexual orientation?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 307-315, May.
    12. Mary Eschelbach Hansen & Michael E. Martell, 2014. "Self-Identified Sexual Orientation and the Lesbian Earnings Differential," Working Papers 2014-13, American University, Department of Economics.
    13. Robin Fisher & Geof Gee & Adam Looney, 2018. "Same-Sex Married Tax Filers After Windsor and Obergefell," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1423-1446, August.
    14. Oreffice, Sonia, 2011. "Sexual orientation and household decision making.: Same-sex couples' balance of power and labor supply choices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 145-158, April.
    15. Redpath, Connor, 2022. "Spousal Visa Policy and Mixed-Citizenship Couples: Evidence from the End of the Defense Of Marriage Act," SocArXiv mzuwe, Center for Open Science.
    16. Joseph J. Sabia & Mark Wooden & Thanh Tam Nguyen, 2017. "Sexual Identity, Same‐Sex Relationships, and Labour Market Dynamics: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data in Australia," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(4), pages 903-931, April.
    17. Christopher S. Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink & Gilbert Gonzales, 2020. "Transgender Status, Gender Identity, and Socioeconomic Outcomes in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 573-599, May.
    18. Rebecca DiBennardo & Gary Gates, 2014. "Research Note: US Census Same-Sex Couple Data: Adjustments to Reduce Measurement Error and Empirical Implications," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(4), pages 603-614, August.
    19. Charles Strohm & Judith Seltzer & Susan Cochran & Vickie Mays, 2009. ""Living Apart Together" relationships in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(7), pages 177-214.
    20. Lina Aldén & Lena Edlund & Mats Hammarstedt & Michael Mueller-Smith, 2015. "Effect of Registered Partnership on Labor Earnings and Fertility for Same-Sex Couples: Evidence From Swedish Register Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1243-1268, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Time-use survey; online methodology; time-diary standardization; modular design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:leu:journl:2014:vol11:issue1:p73-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Merz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fbluede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.