Abstract
Time use researchers working in least developed countries (LDCs) face difficulties collecting data from illiterate populations who may conceptualize time differently than those in industrialized countries. We identify existing gaps in time use data collection methods and discuss two novel, pictorial methods to collect time use data from these populations. The first method is a modified recall interview modeled on participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods that asks respondents to place macaroni on pictures of activity categories in proportion to the amount of time spent on that activity during the previous day. The second is a simplified pictorial time diary that uses a timer and sequentially-numbered stickers to re-create the temporal order of activities in 30-min increments. The latter method also avoids recall bias problems. We present time use data collected in 2009 using these methods in a study examining the impacts of water infrastructure on women and children’s time use in rural Ethiopia. In total, we collected information using the first method from 263 household members over age 10, including 167 water collectors, and pilot-tested the pictorial diary approach with 10 adult respondents.
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Notes
For example, Hofferth (2000) found that parents over-reported time spent reading to their children while underreporting the amount of time kids spent watching television. Robinson (1985) found that respondents over-reported socially desirable activities and under-reported activities of short duration. Chenu and Lesnard (2006) reported that people overestimated time spent on paid employment by understating interruptions. Several other authors, however, have found this problem to be minimal and unsystematic (Juster and Stafford 1985; Robinson 1977; Robinson 1985; Szalai 1973; Bonke 2005; Robinson and Godbey 1999).
Wiseman et al. (2005) used a pictorial diary to record household consumption and expenditure data, though not time use, over a 12 month period in Tanzania and the Gambia. Haraldsen et al. (2000) proposed a modified form of time diaries using pictures in a paper presented at the 2000 International Association of Time Use Research Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, though, to our knowledge the instrument was never implemented.
In our study region in central Ethiopia, Western clock time is not typically used, although people use a similar system where zero o’clock is 6:00am on the Western clock and corresponds to sunrise, and twelve o’clock is 6:00 pm and corresponds to sunset. Because of this and because there is not a lot of variation in daylight because of proximity to the equator, we think asking the respondent what time she woke up and what time she went to bed was reasonably reliable. The percentages of time spent in various activities would, of course, be unaffected by error in the wake-up and sleep times.
Because we tested this method only on individuals over 15 years of age, we excluded the activity card representing children playing from the diary.
The timer we used was a basic digital kitchen timer that can be purchased at any grocery or department store in the US for approximately US$6-10. A picture of it is included in the supplementary appendix.
We chose this approach rather than deciding a set of number of interviews per sub-village because we were initially unclear how rapidly field staff could conduct interviews.
In Tutekunche, our sampling frame was a comprehensive list of households (by sub-village) that was prepared by the local school principal and sub-village leaders. In Bishikiltu we used a household list prepared by sub-village leaders and the village association chairman.
If either the head of household or spouse were not present, the survey team attempted to find individuals in the fields or other places of work. The survey team attempted to contact the household a second time before drawing the next household from the sample to count towards the 30 percent goal. Non-response rates in the 2009 survey were 3 percent in Tutekunche and 4 percent in Bishikiltu.
One study in rural Sub-Saharan Africa elicited time use data from children as young as 6 years of age, but this study relied on open-ended or freeform recall of previous day activities or used parent-assisted recall (Mueller 1984).
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Kibatu Berada and Girmay Haile for assistance during fieldwork, and Sara De Ruyck, Anne-Marie Oelschlager, and Karen Nilson for testing a very early version of the approach. We also thank Water 1st International and Water Action for their cooperation and assistance, as well as the helpful comments from various individuals in seminars at the University of Washington.
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Masuda, Y.J., Fortmann, L., Gugerty, M.K. et al. Pictorial Approaches for Measuring Time Use in Rural Ethiopia. Soc Indic Res 115, 467–482 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-9995-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-9995-x