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How Australians Use Their Time methodology

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Reference period
2020-21 financial year
Released
7/10/2022
Next release Unknown

About this survey

Overview

The 2020-21 Time Use Survey (TUS) was conducted from November 2020 to July 2021. The survey provides data at a national level.  Data was collected from approximately 2000 households around Australia.

The survey was designed to provide insight into how Australians spend their time in a day, including:

  • the types of activities undertaken
  • the proportion of people who participated in activities
  • the average time spent on activities
  • differences in how males and females spent their time
  • time spent in various locations
  • feelings of time pressure
     

Information about how a person spent their day was collected using a diary. The survey also collected a standard set of information about respondents including age, sex, country of birth, employment, education, and income.

This survey has undergone multiple changes to data collection, processing of data, and classification of activities. Data should be used for point-in-time analysis only and should not be compared to previous years. Refer to the section ‘Comparing the data’ for further information.

COVID-19 context

The survey was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, initiatives were in place to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 including border control measures for some states and territories, stay at home orders, remote learning, shutting down non-essential services, limits on gatherings and social distancing rules. 

Data collection

Scope

The scope of the survey included:

  • all usual residents in Australia aged 15 years and over living in private dwellings, including long-stay caravan parks, manufactured home estates and marinas
  • both urban and remote areas in all states and territories, except for very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  • members of the Australian permanent defence forces living in private dwellings
  • any overseas visitors who have been working or studying in Australian for the last 12 months or more or intend to do so.
     

The following people were excluded:

  • visitors to private dwellings
  • overseas visitors who have not been working or studying in Australia for 12 months or more, or do not intend to do so
  • members of non-Australian defence forces stationed in Australia and their dependents
  • non-Australian diplomats, diplomatic staff, and members of their households
  • people who usually live in non-private dwellings, such as hotels, motels, hostels, hospitals, nursing homes and short-stay caravan park
  • people in very remote areas
  • discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  • households where all usual residents are less than 15 years of age.
     

Sample design

Households were randomly selected to participate in the survey. The sample was designed to support national level estimates and does not support estimates at the state or territory level.

Each household was allocated two consecutive diary dates. The days were selected to be broadly representative of seasonal change across the year (for example, seasonal work and recreation patterns, public holidays, school holidays).

Survey enumeration was conducted in 2020-2021 in the following time periods:

  • 11th November – 12th December 2020
  • 24th March – 1st May 2021
  • 26th May – 3rd July 2021
     

Response rates

Information was collected from 2,009 fully responding households, a response rate of 49.3%. From these households, information was collected from 3,630 persons, a response rate of 69.2%. These persons provided a total of 7,062 diary days, a response rate of 67.3%.

Only fully complete records were retained in the final data file. A record was fully complete where there was one diary day with at least 12 hours of activity data reported and at least 3 activities reported.

Collection method

The TUS survey was collected in two phases. The first phase was a household questionnaire, which was completed by any person in the household aged 15 years or over. They were asked to respond on behalf of all people in the household in scope of the survey. The questionnaire collected demographic and socio-economic information about each person in scope. Households were able to complete the survey online, with an interviewer face-to-face, or over the telephone.

The second phase of collection was a diary, which was designed to collect information about a respondent’s activities over a two-day period. Respondents provided information about their main activity, who they did it for, where they were, and what else they were doing at the same time. The diary also included some questions about health, smoking status, participation in unpaid voluntary work and how respondents felt about their time use. All persons in scope aged 15 years and over were asked to complete the diary through a paper form or online.

Processing the data

Processing and coding of diary data

Responses from paper diaries were manually entered into a data entry system.  Changes were only made to correct obvious errors or to amend information to assist coding. Where required, similar amendments were applied to data from the online diaries to align with paper diary data.

If sleep was not recorded in diaries, it was imputed in certain scenarios. This was done at the point of data entry for the paper diaries if it was obvious that sleep had occurred.  It was imputed manually for some online diaries if certain conditions were met.

An automated coding system was used to code activity responses to the Activity Classification.  Logic edits were then applied to activity codes using additional information from the diary data or from the household questionnaire. Quality assurance was done on coding outputs.

The following items were collected in the diaries and have not been published due to data quality concerns:

  • Whether a smartphone, table or computer was used to do the activity
  • Who was present during the activity
     

Estimation methods

As only a sample of people were surveyed on certain days, results needed to be converted into estimates for the whole population. This was done through a process called weighting.

  • Each person or household was given a number (known as a weight) to reflect how many people or households they represent in the whole population.
  • A person or household’s initial weight was based on their probability of being selected in the sample. For example, if the probability of being selected in the survey was one in 45, then the person would have an initial weight of 45 (that is, they would represent 45 people).
     

The person and household weights were then calibrated to align with independent estimates of the in-scope population, referred to as ‘benchmarks’. The benchmarks used additional information about the population to ensure that:

  • people or households in the sample represent people or households that were similar to them
  • the survey estimates reflected the distribution of the whole population, not the sample.
     

Estimates from the survey were obtained by weighting the diary day responses to represent the in-scope population of the survey. 

  • a day’s initial weight was based on the probability of the person being selected and assigned a specific type of day (weekday or weekend day).
  • the day weights were then calibrated to the person benchmarks to ensure the sample of days represents the people who were similar to them.
  • the day estimates reflect the distribution of the whole population of people.
     

Benchmarks align to the estimate resident population (ERP) aged 15 years and over at April 2021 (after exclusion of people living in non-private dwellings, very remote areas of Australia, and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities).

TUS weights were also calibrated to labour force status and education attainment, to better compensate for undercoverage in data collection arising from collecting during the COVID pandemic.

Key concepts

Activities

Activities are the tasks that are done during a person’s day (for example, eating, sleeping and working).  Participants were asked to report the main activity they were doing, referred to as the primary activity and, what they were doing at the same time, referred to as the secondary activity. The activity information was then coded to the Activity Classification.

Four types of time

The way people use time is divided into four broad categories:

  • Necessary time - includes activities which serve basic physiological needs such as sleeping, eating, personal care, health, and hygiene.
  • Contracted time - includes activities where a respondent has a contracted obligation to partake in the activity, such as paid employment and formal education. Also includes related activities such as job search, homework, and related travel.
  • Committed time – includes activities which are unpaid work in nature.  This includes domestic activities such as cooking, housework, shopping, gardening, pet care and managing the household.  It also includes child care activities, caring for adults and voluntary work.
  • Free time – includes activities generally performed for enjoyment or personal fulfilment. Includes watching television, sport and exercise, social interaction, reading, and other social, recreation and leisure activities.
     

Activity Classification

Activities reported by respondents were coded to the Activity Classification.

No activity

Personal care activities

Employment related activities

Education activities

Domestic activities

Child care activities

Adult care activities

Voluntary work activities

Social and community interaction

Recreation and leisure activities

Participants

A person who reported in their time use diary that they spent at least five minutes in their day doing an activity.

Proportion who participated in activity

This is the proportion of persons in a population who have spent at least five minutes on an activity in a day.  It is calculated:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Persons in population who participated in activity}}{\text{Total persons in population}}\times 100}}\)


For example, the proportion of females who participated in domestic activities:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Females who participated in domestic activities}}{\text{Total females}}\times 100}}\)

Summing the ‘proportions who participated in an activity’ for more than one activity in the datacubes will double count people who appear in more than one category and will not give an accurate total.

Average time spent per day, of persons who participated in activity

The average time spent on an activity by people who reported spending at least five minutes in the day doing this activity, is calculated by:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Total time spent on activity in a day by persons in the population}}{\text{Persons in population who participated in activity}}}}\)

For example, the average time spent per day of females who participated in domestic activities:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Total time females spent on domestic activities in a day}}{\text{Females who participated in domestic activities}}}}\)
 

This average is particularly useful for reporting the average time spent on activities that the whole population did not participate in, for example work or child care.  This is because the average time is calculated only including those persons who participated in the activity.  For example, of the persons who participated in work, they spent an average of 7 hours 15 minutes per day.

Summing the ‘average time spent per day, of persons who participated in activity’ for more than one activity in the datacubes will double count people who appear in more than one category and will not give an accurate total.

The average time spent per day of persons who participated in separate activity categories cannot be summed together to calculate a total average.

Average time spent per day, of total population

The average time spent on an activity by all people, regardless of whether they reported doing that activity in their day or not, is calculated by:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Total time spent on activity in a day by persons in the population}}{\text{Persons in population}}}}\)

For example, the average time spent per day on domestic activities by all females:
 

\(\mathsf{\large{\frac{\text{Total time females spent on domestic activities in a day}}{\text{Total females}}}}\)


The average time spent per day of the total population can result in very small amounts of average time per day if the proportion of the population that participated in the activity is low.  For these scenarios, this average time statistic may not be very useful. For example, the average time spent per day on child care of the total population will include people who do not spend any time caring for children.

The average time spent per day of the total population from separate activity categories can be summed together to calculate a total average.

Data quality

Inconsistency between household questionnaire and diary

In a small number of instances there are inconsistencies between the data provided in the household questionnaire and the diary. For example, a person may be reported as unemployed in the household questionnaire but has reported spending time on employment in their diary.

These differences could be due to:

  • a change of circumstance; the diary is collected 1 to 2 weeks after the household questionnaire
  • the person completing the household questionnaire may not have correct information about the person they are responding for
  • a person may not have participated in an activity on the day they were asked to complete the diary.  For example, an employed person may have completed their diary on a non-work day.
     

Prevalence of participation

The 2020-21 TUS is not designed to provide counts of people by prevalence (such as employment, voluntary work, disability status or caring status), rather to identify population groups, so that analysis can be undertaken on how they reported spending their time.

The proportion who participated does not reflect the prevalence rate of a characteristic in the general population. For example, the proportion who participated in adult care activities is not the equivalent of the proportion of carers in the population. This is because each participant completes only two diary days and a carer may not have provided any care on their diary day.

Under coverage of activities

There may be under coverage of time spent on activities because a person could be doing more than two of the possible activities at the same time, however the diary only allows for collection of two activities at a given time.

Primary and Secondary activities

Respondents could report two activities at the same time, a primary activity, and a secondary activity (what they were doing at the same time).  For example, cooking dinner and listening to the radio.

In a small number of instances, the primary and secondary activities could have been coded to the same activity category. For example, cooking dinner and setting the table are both coded to Food and drink preparation/service. Reporting on the time spent for primary and secondary activities combined may inflate the time spent on that activity category. 

Due to data quality concerns, the secondary activity was not output by itself.

Classifying activities

One fundamental difficulty with classifying activities is that one activity could be coded to multiple activity categories.  In the 2020-21 TUS, activities were coded to the category that was deemed the most relevant. 

For example;

  • a response of lunch with friends was coded to the social and community interaction category of eating and drinking out rather than to the personal care activity of eating and drinking.
  • a response of made lunch for kids was coded to the child care activity of feeding and food preparation for children rather than the domestic activity of food and drink preparation/service.

Comparing the data

The 2020-21 TUS data is a source of point-in-time data and should not be compared to previous years. See below for further information about changes to the survey.

If you choose to make comparisons between 2020-21 TUS and previous surveys, the ABS recommends caveating the data with the following statement: The 2020-21 Time use estimates are not fully comparable with previous collections due to changes in methodology.

    Changes to the data collection

    There have been multiple changes to the data collection of the survey which may impact on the types of responses provided by participants. These include:

    • COVID-19 impacts on how people spent their time and on survey enumeration
    • the introduction of online collection, both for the household questionnaire and the diary
    • lower response rate than the previous survey
    • changes to the content of the household questionnaire and diary
       

    Changes to processing and coding of diary data

    There have been multiple changes to the processing of 2020-21 TUS survey data which impact comparability with previous releases.  These include:

    • introduction of an automated coding process
    • reduced manual intervention of data (micro-editing and imputation)
       

    Changes to the Activity Classification

    The 2020-21 TUS activity classification was reviewed and updated to align with real-world changes in how people spend their time and the level of detail provided by respondents in their diaries. The classification is not directly comparable to the activity classification used in the previous release of the survey. See the table below for details of the changes.

    Summary of changes

    Changes to the data release

    Due to data quality concerns, several data items released in the 2006 publication were considered unsuitable for publication in 2020-21 TUS. These included:

    • Who the activity was done for
    • Who was present during the activity
    • Spatial location
    • Mode of transport
    • Type of communication/technology used
    • Nature of activity
       

    Comparability with other ABS surveys and non-ABS sources

    Estimates from 2020-21 TUS may differ from the estimates for the same or similar data items produced from other ABS collections for several reasons. Differences in sampling errors, scope, collection methodologies, reference periods, seasonal and non-seasonal events may all impact estimates.   

    Accuracy

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    Data release

    Release strategy

    The 2020-21 TUS release presents national estimates. The sample design is not sufficient to enable detailed analysis of state and territory estimates.

    Datacubes/spreadsheets

    Data cubes in this release present tables of Estimates, Proportions, and their associated Measures of Error. A data item list is also available in the Data downloads section.

    Microdata

    Microdata is not available for the 2020-21 TUS.

    Custom tables

    Customised statistical tables to meet individual requirements can be produced on request. These are subject to confidentiality and sampling variability constraints which may limit what can be provided. Enquiries on the information available and the cost of these services should be made to the ABS website Contact us page.

    Confidentiality

    The Census and Statistics Act 1905 authorises the ABS to collect statistical information and requires that information is not published in a way that could identify a particular person or organisation. The ABS must make sure that information about individual respondents cannot be derived from published data.

    To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, a technique called perturbation is used to randomly adjust cell values. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics which have a negligible impact on the underlying pattern. This is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable data while maximising the range of information that can be released. After perturbation, a given published cell value will be consistent across all tables. However, adding up cell values in Data Cubes to derive a total may give a slightly different result to the published totals.

    Glossary

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