How many days? A comparison of the quality of time-use data from 2-day and 7-day diaries

Time budget studies differ in the number of diary days. The ‘Guidelines on Harmonized European Time-Use Surveys (HETUS)’ issued by EUROSTAT recommend a two-day diary with both one weekday and one weekend day. In this contribution we examine whether the number of diary days has an effect on the quality of timeuse indicators. A lot of time-use researchers plead for a longer period of observation; some of them even argue that one- or two-day diaries are not very valuable since the high demands of scientific research cannot be accomplished unless multi-day cycles are captured. Longer periods of observation offer better prospects for analyses, especially for the study of rhythms and activity patterns which typically follow cycles of multi-day duration, and which are part of daily life. Other authors however point out that longer periods of observation cause fatigue or diminished motivation and thus will lead to more inaccuracies. In this contribution we use the pooled Flemish time budget data from 1999 and 2004 to compare 7-day diaries with the 2-day diaries as recommended by the EUROSTAT-guidelines. The respondents of the Flemish time use surveys all filled in diaries for 7 consecutive days. To simulate the 2-day registration, we randomly selected one weekday and one weekend day for each respondent. The 2-day selection was compared with the original 7-day registration. The aim of this comparison is to inventory the advantages and disadvantages of the 2-day and 7-day registration method. To do that, we compare different indicators, such as the averages and the standard deviations of the duration of several activities. We further examine whether certain types of activities are more affected by the method of registration than others. Finally we examine whether a longer period of registration negatively affects the quality of the data (less detail and less accurate).Time-budget studies, time-use indicators, methodology

The Coming of the 24-hour Economy?

This study mapped the changes in the timing of working hours in Belgium as reported in workers' daily work schedules, obtained from the Belgian Time-Use Surveys of 1966 and 1999. A typology of working schedules was drawn up by means of a sequence analysis. This approach showed that work performed beyond the standard times, that is, in the evening, at night, or on weekends, did not grow in importance in the intervening years. In 1999, standard working hours clearly accounted for a larger share of the work schedules of the active population. Although the analyses did certainly not corroborate the often alleged trend towards a 24-hour society in Belgium, it could be shown that certain categories of the working population are more susceptible to flexible working hours than others

Evolution in Time-Use and Division of Labour of Men and Women

La façon dont nous utilisons notre temps en général, et dont nous séparons travail rémunéré et non rémunéré est largement affectée par des influences culturelles et sociales. Cette utilisation est également supposée se modifier en fonction de changements sociaux et culturels, comme l’évolution vers des attitudes plus égalitaires. Ainsi, beaucoup d’études montrent, d’une part  une diminution du temps accordé au travail rémunéré par les hommes et une augmentation de leur implication dans le soin des enfants et, d’autre part, une augmentation de la participation des femmes au marché du travail ainsi qu’une diminution de leur charge de travail non rémunéré. Cependant, les mêmes études mettent également en évidence la lenteur de cette convergence dans la division du travail entre hommes et femmes. En comparant la base de données flamande « emploi du temps – 7 jours » de 2013 (n=2,894) à celles de 1999 (n=1,234) et de 2004 (n=1,643) qui présentent des données comparables sur l’emploi du temps, cette contribution analyse les évolutions antérieures et la situation actuelle de la division du travail entre les hommes et les femmes en Flandre, Belgique. Cette contribution montre notamment que les hommes commencent à plus prendre en charge le soin des enfants, et que les femmes accomplissent de plus en plus de travail rémunéré, mais que les corvées domestiques demeurent, tout comme en 2004, principalement à charge des femmes. De plus, bien que la charge de travail ne diffère désormais plus de manière significative entre hommes et femmes, les divergences dans sa composition perdurent néanmoins. La convergence vers une division égalitaire du travail avance doucement, très doucement.The way we use our time in general and how we divide paid and unpaid work is affected to a great extend by social and cultural influences. It is also assumed to change in function of social and cultural changes, like more egalitarian attitudes. Many studies, thus, report a decline in paid work and increase in childcare for men and an increase in paid work and labour market participation of women and a decrease in unpaid work. However, the same studies also report a slow convergence in the division of labour between men and women. By using the Flemish 7-day time-use data form 2013 (n=2,894) and by comparing them with the 1999 (n=1,234) and 2004 (n=1,643) comparable time-use data this contribution analyses the evolutions in and current situation of the division of labour between men and women in Flanders, Belgium.  It shows amongst other things that men take up more childcare and women perform more paid work, but that domestic chores remain an equally typical women’s job as in 2004. Additionally, even though the total workload no longer differs significantly between men and women, its composition still does. The convergence to an equal division of labour goes slow, very slow

How to transform European housing into healthy and sustainable living spaces using a Belgian case study? – the RenovActive principles tackle climate and renovation challenges

The RenovActive renovation concept seeks to offer healthy, affordable, easy to reproduce, scalable solutions for the existing building stock of European housing. The concept was developed and tested in a prototype phase, where 7 principles have been applied to a semidetached house built in the 1920s, situated in a garden city in Brussels. The renovated prototype was occupied by a family and monitored for two years. The monitoring was performed, after renovation, both through data, sensors, and extensive interviews and questionnaires with the family. In general, the family living in the house is very satisfied with the indoor environment. The results show a general indoor CO2- concentration below 900 ppm, and an indoor temperature between 21°C and 26°C. The technical and sociological monitoring show indication for the additional potential to optimize and improve indoor comfort levels and perception. As an example, there are discrepancies between setpoints and programming we initiated, based on standards and scientific inputs, based on predicted behaviors. But user interactions, and preferences in real life situation when occupying the house, as well as situational perceptions and culture, modified user setpoints compared to our initial setpoints, that in some settings could have a negative impact on the indoor environment. This indicates that a technical system operating the indoor environment must be both flexible and robust to accommodate for multiple and varying preferences of building inhabitants.publishedVersio

The Representativeness of Online Time Use Surveys. Effects of Individual Time Use Patterns and Survey Design on the Timing of Survey Dropout

Like other surveys, time use surveys are facing declining response rates. At the same time paper-and-pencil surveys are increasingly replaced by online surveys. Both the declining response rates and the shift to online research are expected to have an impact on the representativeness of survey data questioning whether they are still the most suitable instrument to obtain a reliable view on the organization of daily life. This contribution examines the representativeness of a self-administered online time use survey using Belgian data collected in 2013 and 2014. The design of the study was deliberately chosen to test the automated processes that replace interviewer support and its cost-efficiency. We use weighting coefficients, a life table and discrete-time survival analyses to better understand the timing and selectivity of dropout, with a focus on the effects of individual time use patterns and the survey design. The results show that there are three major hurdles that cause large groups of respondents to drop out. This dropout is selective, and this selectivity differs according to the dropout moment. The contribution aims to provide a better insight in dropout during the fieldwork and tries to contribute to the further improvement of survey methodology of online time use surveys

If Only the French Republicans Had Known This: The Week as a Social Fact

During the French Revolution and inspired by the Enlightenment, an attempt was made to replace the Gregorian calendar (which was based on ‘irrational’ overlapping cycles linked to religious celebrations) by the Republican calendar (which was based on ‘rational’ clearly nested cycles in accordance with the metric system). Although the starting point was an ideological and aesthetic expression of rationalism, this calendar also had to fulfill a coordinating and integrating function. Thus the calendric reform faced a tremendous challenge: re-creating a socio-temporal order. One of the crucial socio-temporal frameworks that guide daily behavior in Western societies is the 7-day cycle of the week. In the new calendar, the week was to be replaced by the 10-day cycle or the décade, which turned out the greatest stumbling block for calendar-reformation. Theoretically this is explained by the social nature of time and the ‘second nature’ of time reckoning, but the unawareness of a socially established weekly rhythm in our daily behavior is hard to illustrate. Today, however, society is full of traces of so-called ‘big data’ that humans leave behind. This paper uses ‘big data’ on re-charges of electronic keys to show that even though a 10-day re-charging cycle is proposed, a 7-day re-charging cycle will surface

Testing compliance to WHO guidelines for physical activity in Flanders: insights from time-use diaries

Abstract Background Regular physical activity decreases the risk for numerous non-communicable diseases. The World Health Organization has suggested physical activity (PA) guidelines that, based on previous research, would provide health benefits to those who comply. The first guideline for health benefits suggests 150 min of moderate PA or equivalent per week. The guideline for additional health benefits suggests 300 min of PA or equivalent per week. The objective of this paper is to analyze to what extent these two WHO PA guidelines for adults are met in the Belgian region of Flanders. Furthermore, we are interested to see which groups are more or less likely to meet the PA guidelines. Methods Crosstables and logistic regressions are used on a sample of 3028 adults in the Belgian region of Flanders. All respondents filled in a 7-day time-diary in which they continuously recorded all their activities. Results Firstly, men are more likely than women to comply to both PA guidelines. Secondly, living with a partner increases the odds to comply to the guidelines. For men, this is the case for both guidelines, while for women, this only applies to the first guideline. Thirdly, women with a young child have lower odds to comply to the guidelines, while having a young child doesn’t have an effect for men. Conclusion Previous research on meeting PA guidelines in Flanders shows diverging results. Time-diary data allows researchers to strictly follow the WHO definition when operationalizing compliance to PA guidelines. There is a need for future research that combines time-diaries with a PA questionnaire and accelerometer data to gain more insights on the benefits and pitfalls of both methodologies

Graduate students locked down? PhD students' satisfaction with supervision during the first and second COVID-19 lockdown in Belgium.

BackgroundSupervisor support is crucial for the successful and timely completion of the PhD and the largest contributor to PhD students' overall job satisfaction. The COVID-19 pandemic affected PhD students' life substantially through delayed experiments, missed timelines, running out of funding, change to online team- and supervisor meetings, mandatory working from home, and social confinement.AimThis contribution considers PhD students' satisfaction scores to reflect the extent to which PhD students felt supported by their supervisor during the COVID-19 pandemic so far and aims to investigate to what extent did PhD students' satisfaction with supervisor support changed over time.MethodIt uses two longitudinal two cohorts of wave 4 to 5 of the PhD Survey at a Belgian university. These cohorts are representative of two different ways the COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted doctoral research. Cohort 1 (n = 345) includes a pre-COVID measurement (April-May 2019) and a measurement immediately after the start of the abrupt lockdown in April-May 2020. Cohort 2 (n = 349) includes the measurement at the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and after a year with continuously changing containment policies (April-May 2021). The composite measure of satisfaction with supervisor support is based on six items with high internal consistency.ResultsNo significant net effect of time was revealed. Instead within subject interactions with time showed that in cohort 1, PhD students at the start of their PhD trajectory and PhD students with family responsibilities reported lower supervisor satisfaction scores over time. In cohort 2, PhD students not pursuing academic careers reported lower satisfaction scores over time.ConclusionIn times of crises, special attention needs to be paid to PhD students who are extra susceptible to uncertainties because of their junior status or personal situation, and especially those PhD students for whom doctoral research is not a trajectory to position themselves in academia