United Kingdom Time Use Survey, 2000

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The key objectives of the <i>United Kingdom Time Use Survey</i> (TUS) were:<ul><li>to carry out a large-scale household survey featuring self-completion diaries to measure the amount of time spent by the UK population on various activities</li><li>to build on the lessons learnt from the <i>National Pilot Time Use Survey</i> (not currently held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA)) and other previous exercises</li><li>to ensure that the TUS provides data for government departments' academic research requirements</li><li>to carry out the TUS in a European framework with design and administration along the lines of the Eurostat specification, and to provide results comparable, as far as possible, with those envisaged by them, but with modifications taking account of UK government and academic needs</li><li>to deposit a documented dataset in an understandable and accessible format with the UKDA and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), for analysis by academic and government users respectively</li></ul>There has been an increasing interest in time use studies and the information they produce. How we choose to spend our time is one of the main factors that shape our lives, and time use studies provide an opportunity to measure these choices and the routine of every day life. The way in which these choices affect time use has important implications for public policy, in particular in areas of employment, social security, childcare, labour market, health and education. The range of the TUS is very broad and its implications will be felt at both local and national level.<br>
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The current TUS is the first large-scale study of its kind to be conducted in this country. Previous studies have taken place before, namely the ESRC-funded <i>Time Use Survey</i> of 1987 (not currently held at UKDA), and in 1995 OPCS (now the Office for National Statistics) carried out a 'simple' diary exercise within the <i>Omnibus</i> survey (held at UKDA under SN 3951). The additional value gained from measuring time use in this study will result in a national time use database, that is available for analysis by government and academic users.<br>
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For the second edition of the study (November 2002), the episode diary data was added, the documentation was updated, and some changes were made to the household and individual files. Further updates to the data and documentation were made for the third edition (September 2003). For further details, see documentation.<br>
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A dataset comprising imputed net income variables derived from the TUS has been compiled by Tania Burchardt of the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is held at the UKDA under SN 5536.<br>
<br><br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>The main data collection instruments are a household questionnaire, individual questionnaire and self-completion diaries. Respondents are asked to complete two 24-hour diaries, which are broken down into ten minute slots. Topics covered in the questionnaires include employment, qualifications, care of dependants and children, leisure time activities and demographic details, such as age, gender, marital status, ethnicity and housing. Four data files are included in the dataset: diary, household, individual and worksheet files.