Time use survey

The survey consists of two parts: an interview on the telephone and a record of time use over a two-day period.

Our interviewer will try to reach you by telephone or email in the near future. Kindly answer when we contact you.

Instructions for responding to the web diary

When to keep the web diary

• Keep a diary for one weekday and one weekend day (the days have been selected beforehand). 
• It is good to fill in the diary whenever you have time, throughout the day, not all at once at the end of the day.

How to fill in the diary

• Open the web diary by clicking the link provided to you. 
• Select the day. 
• Click the Add entry tag button to start recording your time use. 
• Start recording the on-going activity at 04.00 am (for most people it is sleep). Write as accurately as possible, in your own words, what you were doing. 
• Select the time interval of the activity according to how long the same activity continued. Fill in all the requested information and press OK to save the entry.  
• When your activity changes to another one (for example, from sleeping to dressing up), click the Add entry button to make a new entry. Fill in the data as above. 
• By clicking the Instructions button you can read more detailed instructions for answering. 
• Answer the questions at the end of the day at the bottom of the diary page and click Save in the end. 
• You can go to the next day by clicking the Go to day selection button at the bottom of the diary page. 
• When both days have been filled in, check the data you have entered. When everything is in order and saved, you can close the diary. The data are transferred to Statistics Finland when saved. 

What to enter in the diary

Time period 

• Enter the start and end times of the activity you have reported at the accuracy of 10 minutes.  

What did you do? 

• Write down what you have done at different times of the day. Report your activity based on what you have mainly done at which time. 
• 'The shortest reported duration of an activity is 10 minutes. If you did several things simultaneously during 10 minutes, enter the activity you consider the primary one. If you did several things in succession during 10 minutes, enter only the activity on which you spent the most time. 
• Note down whether you used some smart device (smartphone, tablet, computer) for your activity. 

What else did you do at the same time? 

• If you did several things at the same time, enter the simultaneous activity in the space reserved for it. For example, if you played PlayStation and at the same time listened to music, write “listening to music” as a simultaneous activity.
• Please remember to mark the total duration of simultaneous activities, which may differ from the duration of the main activity. If the secondary activity ends before the ongoing main activity, make a new note on the main activity without the secondary activity.
• If the secondary activity becomes the main activity, enter the new main activity and record the activity there. Also add the possible new secondary activity. If the secondary activity takes longer than the main activity, but still remains secondary, make a new entry on the next main activity and record the same secondary activity for it.

Were you alone or together with somebody you know? 

• Mark with cross with whom you were. The household refers to the persons with whom you live.

• Being together does not necessarily mean here that you actually do things together. It is sufficient that somebody else is in the vicinity. This information need not be entered for the period of sleep. ⁠

What did you think about the time? 

• Select a smiley that best describes your own experience. This information need not be entered for the period of sleep. 

Final check of the diary

Finally, check that:

• Each entry has only one primary activity
• Simultaneous activities have also been recorded for the correct times of the day
• All trips and modes of transport have been written down
• The possible use of smartphones, computers or tablets is indicated
• Both days have been recorded in full, meaning that no time of the day has been skipped 
• Information on being alone or together can be found for each entry (except when you were asleep) 
• Each entry gives information on what you thought about the time (except when you were asleep), that is, the day view shows the smiley you selected at the end of each row
• The end questions concerning the date of filling in the diary have been answered
• For those working: working hours are also entered in the section on working days when you have done gainful work at home or on a trip (e.g. on the bus).

Problem situations

If the form does not work for some reason, close the page, wait a short time, and then try again.

The results of the Time Use Survey depict how much time the population spends on gainful employment, household work, studies, and various leisure pursuits, as well as changes in
time use.

The data of the Time Use Survey are also used to measure the value of household production and for international comparisons. The data can be used to support equality, family, social, transport and cultural policies, for instance.

The data are needed, for example, in the UN Indicator for Sustainable Development measuring gender equality (SDG5). In addition to the UN, time use data are entered into the databases of Eurostat and OECD (e.g. OECD Well-being indicator).

The data from the data collection are used in the following statistics:

• Time use
• Massmedia statistics
• Culture
• Value of household production
• Annual national accounts