Transcript Reading Activity Method Time-Use Diaries for Studying

Reading Activity
Method
Time-Use Diaries for
Studying Reading Practices
M Cecil Smith
Northern Illinois University
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Time-use diaries
 Widely used in sociological research
 Method originated in the 1920s in the Soviet Union
 Time-use diaries have been used to study:
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Sexual activities
Leisure activities
Nutritional practices
Workplace productivity
Child-rearing
Distribution of household labor
Television viewing habits (Nielson ratings)
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Time-use diaries
 Time is a behavioral indicator of values and
preferences
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“Time diary data can be construed as evidence
of the value people put on the activities in
which they engage and in very real behavioral
terms”
 Time diary data show a clear relationship
between general attitudes toward activities,
such as reading, and time spent on these
activities
▪ (Robinson, 1988)
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Categories of time use
 PRODUCTIVE functions
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Contracted time (paid work)
Committed time (housework & family care)
 MAINTENANCE functions
 Personal time (sleeping, eating, grooming)
 EXPRESSIVE functions
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Free time (TV, reading, socializing)
(Reading can be found across all of these)
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Types of time-use diaries
 Retrospective (recall)
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“What do you do on a typical day?”
 subject
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to recall error
“What did you do yesterday?”
 more
accurate recall
 Prospective
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Record activity as it occurs
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Time-use studies
 Multi-national time use study (Szalai, 1972)
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12 countries participated
 Survey Research Center, U of Michigan (1965)
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N = 1,244 adults; 24 hr. diary
 (Robinson,
1977)
 Survey Research Center, U of Michigan (1975)
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N = 1,519 adults; 24 hr. diary
 (Robinson,
1976)
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Advantages of time-use diaries
 More accurate and unbiased data
 Participant recall problems diminished
 Better for obtaining data on low-frequency
events
 Can capture a wide variety of behavioral
and related (i.e., affective) data
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Disadvantages of time-use
diaries
 Increased “participant burden”
 Decreased cooperation
 Participant reactivity
 Yields missing data
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when no behavior is recorded, does this
indicate that no behavior occurred?
 Huge volume of data increases labor and
data processing / analyses costs
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Alternatives to time-use diaries
 Direct observation of behavior
 Interviews
 Paper-and-pencil surveys / questionnaires
 Experience Sampling Method (ESM)
 Electronic trackers
 Telephone calls
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Reliability & validity of timeuse diaries
 Reliability frequently determined with alternate-
form diaries (including phone calls, mail-back
diaries, and personal interviews)
 Validity frequently determined with independent
observations, degree of correspondence
between spousal couples, “shadow” technique
 In general, time-use diaries are reliable and
valid
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Time-use diaries in reading
research
 Greaney (1980)
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Irish 5th graders
 Neuman (1982)
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4th, 5th, 6th graders
 Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding (1988)
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5th graders
 Taylor, Frye, & Maryuyama (1988)
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5th & 6th graders
 Smith (2000)
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adults
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The Reading Activity Method
(RAM)
 Notebook format (portable!)
 Instructions (detailed)
 Questionnaires
 Multiple data-gathering sheets
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RAM Diary Form
Day: ___
Hour
Source
Setting
Amt.
Mins.
Amt.
Pages
Purpse
Effort
5-1
Strats
Enjoy
5-1
6a–7a
7a–8a
8a–9a
9 – 10 a
10 – 11 a
11 – 12 a
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Research questions
 What are the characteristics of adults’
everyday reading practices?
 How does the setting and the purpose for
reading interact to determine selection of
reading material, reading effort and
enjoyment, and uses of learning strategies?
 What are the associations of age, occupation,
and education with reading practices?
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Sample characteristics
 N = 154 adults
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20 – 84 years of age
88 females, 66 males
84% White
Occupations: 26% business; 24% clerical, sales,
service, production; 23% disciplinary & health care;
23% crafts & trades; 4% not in labor force
 Graduate students recruited one participant each
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5 participants had <HS diploma; 6 had doctoral
degrees; median educ attainment of sample = 15 years
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Design of study
 Participants recruited in 5 waves over a period of
28 months (1993-1995)
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Waves ranged from 26 – 40 persons each
 Participants were asked to keep a RAM diary for 5
days (Time 1)
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Three follow-up times over a 1-year period
recorded RAM diary for 3 or 5 days (over 1 or 2 weeks)
 90% of sample kept diary for requested number of
days
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30% kept diaries for at least 2 times of measurement
 Only Time 1 data have been analyzed
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Role of theory and associated
research literature
 Readership studies
 W.S. Gray & B. Rogers: Maturity in Reading (1956)
 Surveys of adults’ reading habits
 National Adult Literacy Survey (1992)
 More reading associated with higher levels of literacy
proficiency (Smith, 1996)
 Practice engagement theory (Reder, 1994)
 literacy skills develop within particular contexts of
practice
 literacy develops primarily through individuals’
participation in literacy activities, rather than through
school learning
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Design integrity
 12% of sample randomly phone interviewed
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Estimate of actual amount of reading recorded
Diary at hand all, most, some, none of time
Difficulty of diary recording
 Alternate form reliability study
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119 university students  1 day diary
24 hour recall
 RAM participants monitored for compliance
 2 phone calls during recording period
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Limitations of RAM
 Cannot compare reading to other activities that
might support, undermine, or be unrelated to
respondents’ reading (e.g., TV viewing, childrearing, hobbies)
 Biases respondents toward reading (R is
aware that reading is focus of study; may overreport reading activity)
 Robinson recommends open-ended rather
than specific activity focus
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Lessons learned
 Less is more
 Play close attention to the methodological
literature
 Don’t over-complicate the design and data
collection procedures
 Have a good data analysis plan in place
 Time-use diaries are a useful tool for studying
everyday literacy practices
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Download this presentation
 http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~smith/Conferences/2005/Diary
Method.ppt
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