Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Within the recreation literature, three techniques have primarily been used:
• A continuous record of recreation activities of a sample population for a given time
period which involves respondents keeping a diary of activities (the time budget
approach) (Zuzanek et al.'s (1998) cross-national survey of Dutch and Canadian use of
time is a good source to consult).
• Questionnaire surveys which require respondents to recall activities either in the form of
an individual case study, which are detailed and sometimes contain both qualitative
and quantitative questions and which are inevitably small-scale due to the time
involved in in-depth qualitative interviews.
• Questionnaire surveys which are large scale, enabling subsamples to be drawn which
are statistically significant. Such surveys may be derived using simple and
unambiguous questions which focus on a specific recreation activity or one that covers
the entire spectrum of leisure activities (e.g. the GHS surveyed 17,574 people in 1993
in Great Britain aged 16 and over). To illustrate how these techniques have been used
and the way such data have been analysed, the time budget approach and national
surveys of recreational activities are now examined.
TIME BUDGET SURVEY TECHNIQUES
Leisure time budgets
According to Coppock and Duffield (1975):
recreation takes place in that portion of people's lives in which they are
free (within constraints) to choose their activities, that is, their leisure
time, [and] how they spend their time (time-budgets) is of paramount
importance in any attempt to establish recreational demand, since it
determines where recreational activities are possible.
(Coppock and Duffield 1975:5)
Therefore, time budget analysis is a vital tool in analysing demand (Anderson 1971;
Fukaz 1989). Time budgets provide a systematic record of a person's use of time. They
describe the duration, sequence and timing of a person's activities for a given period,
usually of between a day and a week. When combined with the recording of the location
at which activities occur, the record is referred to as a space time budget. Time budget
studies provide for the understanding of spatial and temporal behaviour patterns which
may not be directly observable by other research techniques either because of their
practicality or their intrusion into individual privacy. Such studies are often undertaken
through the use of detailed diaries which are filled in by participants (see Pearce 1988a;
Debbage 1991). However, this method has not been widely used in comparison with
more traditional survey techniques due to the difficulty for individuals of accurately
keeping records. For example, in 1966 and 1974 to 1975 the British Broadcasting
Corporation used its Audience Research Department to recruit people to keep a diary for
a full week with half-hour entries. Yet even in such a short time span, diarists'
