Assessing the population’s wellbeing involves understanding how people lead their daily lives. Time use surveys measure the ways people spend their time. From a social viewpoint, survey data shows how activity choices are affected by different circumstances and responsibilities. From an economic viewpoint, it provides information on productive activities not measured in existing economic statistics (because the work is conducted outside the market sector). From a health viewpoint, it can measure exposure to activities and environments that affect health.
Time use surveys also provide insights into: the lives of different population groups; the size and contribution of the voluntary and household sectors; the inter-relationship between people’s paid and unpaid work; and the capacity of the population to continue providing unpaid labour in the future.
This paper describes part of the scoping exercise for the next time use survey that will be in the field in 2008/09. From then on the survey is scheduled to be undertaken eight-yearly.
Purpose
The objective of this scoping exercise (a collaboration between the University of Otago and Statistics New Zealand), is to provide advice leading to New Zealand time use data that is highly relevant to potential users, covers emerging social issues, and incorporates best international practice.
Methodology
Key stakeholders were consulted regarding their interest in the survey, and its potential to inform policy and research effort. The end-user consultations are summarised in this paper, together with an evaluation of the implications these uses have for the survey methodology, content, and design. A review of past and potential uses of time use survey data in social policy and research is also included.
Key Results
Using analysis of the New Zealand Time Use Survey: 1998/99 as a starting point; there are several changes that could be made to meet some of the new data needs expressed by the end-users.
Some potential changes are: including all adults in the household; including children; including institutionalised populations; reporting who the respondent was with when participating in each activity; reporting the location of activity as indoor/outdoor for certain settings; revising the activity coding system to incorporate more detailed classification of some activities (particularly at work and during Internet use); investigating the use of electronic devices to enhance the accuracy of location and nature of activity recording; using laptops to code activity data at the time of the interview; and revising the ‘for whom the activity was done’ coding system to incorporate the International Classification of Non- Profit Organisations (ICNPO).
There is good support for the Time Use Survey: 2008/09 from the policy and public health research sectors. The next survey can build on past New Zealand experiences, and take advantage of advances in survey design and new technology to improve accuracy and usefulness. Decisions on modifications to the previous survey methodology depend on the trade-offs between increasing the scope of the survey, increasing survey costs, and the potential to reduce respondent cooperation and response quality.