Exploring New Ground for Using the Multinational Time Use Study

Abstract

This abstract explores recent changes in the Multinational Time Use Study, which has harmonised time diary data from twenty-four countries collected from the 1960s through the 1990s. The paper addresses the processes of harmonising variables across countries, considering the development of common activity, background, and context categories, the placement of activities in time, the future incorporation of sequence data, the reconciling of effects of variations in study design, and file access and distribution issues. The paper then explores new potential uses of the MTUS, concentrating on three of the many emerging applications: integrating time diary data with other records; tracking the changing behaviour of older people; and evaluating the effects of health interventions for chronic illnesses.