USA 1965-66

This information has been created by the Centre for Time Use Research at the University College London

Samples included

Multinational Comparative Time-Budget Research Project, including a Jackson Michigan and a national USA sample, conducted by the Survey Research at the University of Michigan and the Social Relations Department at Harvard University, with funding from the National Science Foundation (part of the Szalai Multinational Time Budget Research Project).

Sample description
Country: USA 1965-66
Study title: The Multinational Comparative Time-Budget Research Project
Collector: Philip E. Converse and John P. Robinson, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Philip J. Stone, Department of Social Relations, Harvard University. The National Science Foundation funded the study
When conducted: 15 November - 15 December, 1965; 1 January - 18 February 1966; 7 March - 20 May, 1966
Sampling method and study design: Part of Multinational Time Budget Research Project, which set as guidelines to promote comparability of results while minimising potential expenses for researchers who did not have the resources or connections to drawn national random samples: (a) sample of a city with between 30,000 and 280,000 residents and surrounding areas; (b) city have a clear urban centre rather than be an urban sprawl; (c) at least 25% of population employed in local industry; (d) no more than 25% of surrounding population employed in agriculture and at least 5% of surrounding populations commuting the city to work; (e) randomly select households from address registers; (f) randomly select one household member aged 18-64 to complete a time diary; (g) exclude persons in institutions, military barracks, or without fixed abodes; (h) exclude households where no member falls in the age range and/or where no member is employed in a non-agricultural industry; (i) refusals and missing cases could be replaced by new household but not by another person in the household; (j) self-completed diaries for one day (00:00-00:00) completed on the day, where self completion not possible, interviewer assisted diary of activities the day before, and in 10% of cases people completed "fresh" diaries of activities the day before with interviewer before completing the self-completion diary on a later day; (k) all days of the week given an equal probability of selection for diary days Two separate waves conducted: (1) Jackson, Michigan and surrounds; (2) national sample of 44 metropolitan areas. Diaries collected primary and secondary activities, who else was present and location of activities
Sample size: Total: 2021 respondents; Jackson: 778 respondents; 44 cities: 1,243 respondents
Response rate: Jackson: 82% responded; 44 cities: 74% responded
Weighting procedures: Ideal was to have equal numbers of interviews from each day of the week; as this did not happen in practice, data weighted the data for each day of the week would be counted in the same proportions
Sources of information: Alexander Szalai (ed.) (1972) The Use of Time: Daily Activities of Urban and Suburban Populations in Twelve Countries. The Hague, Paris: Mouton Publication of the European Co-ordination Centre for Research and Documentation in the Social Sciences
Diary characteristics: Age range: 19-65
Number dairy days: 1
Multi-member household diary: No
Interval: Diarists recorded starting and stopping times
Secondary Activities: Yes
Where the activity was carried out: Yes
Who else was present: Yes
Number of activity codes: 98 codes
Available documentation: Codebook

Back to Top