%0 Journal Article
%T What do we mean by multitasking? ¨C Exploring the need for methodological clarification in time use research
%A Susan Kenyon
%J Electronic International Journal of Time Use Research
%D 2010
%I University of Lueneburg
%X We can learn a lot about society by knowing how people spend their time during the typical day. However, in-consistency in the recording of time use, specifically, in how we record details of people¡¯s participation in more than one activity at a time (¡°multitasking¡±), may be preventing full understanding of how people use their time in their everyday lives. It is not clear what ¡°we¡± ¨C as academics, survey designers and participants ¨C mean by ¡°mul-titasking¡±. This may be affecting the reliability and validity of recorded multitasking. In consequence, we may not know what we think we know about time use, with implications for ¡°knowledge¡± in a wide range of aca-demic disciplines and policy areas. This paper begins by presenting examples of popular use of the term ¡°multi-tasking¡±, taken from a national (GB) survey, illustrating a diversity of understanding of the term amongst par-ticipants. Next, analysis of selected time use diaries highlights the impacts of this diversity in meaning for inter-participant and inter-survey consistency and therefore for reliability and validity. Finally, the paper raises a num-ber of questions regarding the meaning of multitasking, with reference to its conceptualisation in selected aca-demic papers. The paper identifies an important gap in the research literature, illustrating a need for methodo-logical investigation in time use research, to enhance our understanding of the meaning of multitasking and therefore to enhance the comparability, reliability and validity of time use studies.
%K Marriage
%K time use
%K Bangladesh
%K gender
%K leisure
%K work introduction
%U http://www.eijtur.org/pdf/volumes/eIJTUR-7-1.pdf