Centre for Time Use Research UK Time Use Survey, March 2023

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The Centre for Time Use Research (CTUR) Time Use Survey conducted in March 2023 is a UK representative survey of UK adults aged 18+ (N=2179) collected using a multi-field digital time-use diary design that corresponds to the information collected in best practice pen-and-paper designs such as the Harmonised European Time Use Survey (HETUS). A general-purpose time use survey design, incorporating multiple continuous independent diary fields, is important because it offers both continuity with historically collected time use diary data and versatility, providing data for a wide-ranging and still growing corpus of substantive research and policy applications.

The online diary design developed at the CTUR (the Extended Light Diary Digital Instrument - ELiDDI) mimics the ‘light diary’ visually intuitive interface, and including all the fields and activities of the HETUS diary. It builds on and is compatible with the previous CaDDI online diary design used for the Centre for Time Use Research (CTUR) UK Time Use Survey 6-Wave Sequence across the COVID-19 Pandemic 2016-2021(UKDS Study ID 8741). Methodological work to date suggests that this visually intuitive design does not lead to an erosion of data quality or increased respondent burden.

The nationally representative survey was conducted in March 2023 in a 3-way collaboration between CTUR, Dynata (a leading international market research agency conforming to the Market Research Society's ethical code who designed the digital diary interface) and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), who provided the UK representative sample and ran the logistics of the data collection exercise.

Respondents were invited to complete 2 diaries, one on a randomly sampled weekday, one on a weekend day, recording activities, location, co-presence, device use, and enjoyment across continuous 10-minute episodes throughout the diary day. The accompanying background questionnaire collected information on the standard socio-demographic variables, and a diary day questionnaire included additional information about each diary day.

Main topics

• Full general-purpose online time use diary survey, with the same diary fields as the Harmonised European Time Use Survey (HETUS)
• primary activity
• secondary activity
• location
• co-presence
• device use
• enjoyment.