Introduction to quantitative time-diary analysis

Course structure

Participants are invited to follow and replicate on their own computer the code demonstrated during the session. It requires basic to intermediate prior knowledge of statistics and basic experience with statistical programming.

The course covers:

• Historical outline of time-diaries and time use research
• Activities nomenclatures, survey designs & time diary dataset structure
• Deriving duration and participation in activities from long and wide datasets
• Multivariate analysis of aggregate time diary data
• Weekly work schedules and working time
• Weighting and accounting for clustering in time diary data.

Event Outline

The course will take place online on Zoom on 3rd and 10th of November 2022, from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, and each afternoon will consist of 2-3 sessions, with a presentation followed by a computer demonstration and questions and answers.

Thursday 3rd of November - Introduction to time diary data analysis

Session 1

• 2:00pm - Origins and milestones of time diary analysis; structure and design of time diary surveys
• 2:45pm - Q&A, break.

Session 2

• 3:00pm - Structure and design of time diary surveys (continued). Estimating duration and participation: day- and person-level aggregate statistics
• 3:45pm - Q&A, break.

Session 3

• 4:00pm - Estimating duration and participation (continued); tempograms
• 4:30pm - Q&A; discussion of participants research ideas and interest.

Thursday 10th of November - Working with time diary data

Session 1

• 2:00pm - Multivariate analysis of time-diary data: modelling time and participation
• 2:45pm - Q&A, break.

Session 2

• 3:00pm - Special topics: work schedule; weighting; and robust estimates
• 3:45pm - Q&A, break.

Session 3

• 4:00PM - Estimating duration and participation (continued); Q&A; discussion of participants research ideas and interest.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course participants will be able to:

• identify significant milestones and contributions to time diary research
• identify the main characteristics of time diaries, time diary surveys, and datasets
• derive estimates from time diary surveys and use them in in their own analysis
• Participants will receive written slides and syntax files electronically after the course (by email).

Participants are advised to use their own laptop with the latest version of the R software and the dplyr and ggplot2 packages installed.

No preparatory readings are required. People can visit the CTUR website for general information: timeuse.org

Course Fees

• £30 / per day for students registered at UK/EU University
• £60 / per day for staff at UK/EU academic institutions, UK/EU Research Councils researchers, UK/EU public sector staff and staff at UK/EU registered charity organisations and recognised UK/EU research institutions 
• £100 / per day for all other participants.

In the event of cancellation by the delegate a full refund of the course fee is available up to two weeks prior to the course. NO refunds are available after this date. If it is no longer possible to run a course due to circumstances beyond its control, NCRM reserves the right to cancel the course at its sole discretion at any time prior to the event. In this event every effort will be made to reschedule the course. If this is not possible or the new date is inconvenient a full refund of the course fee will be given.

This course has the support of the UK Data Service.

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