Readme File for Country Year

README FILE FOR AUSTRALIA 1987

(World 5.5 – Release 2)

March 1st 2005

Age range / 15+
Response rate / 74.2%
Number of diary days / 2-day
Survey period / 23 May - 4 June 1987
Multi-member household survey / Yes
Type of diary / Fresh
Mode of data collection / Self-completed diary
Time interval in the diary / 15-minutes
Data on secondary activities / Yes
Data on where the activity was carried out / Yes
Data on who else was present / Yes
Number of activity codes / 57
Number of cases in the original file / 3,222
Number of ‘good’ diaries in the World5.5 file / 3,181

Notes:

1. The discrepancy in cases between the original file and the World 5.5 file is explained by the fact that 41 respondents had 0 minutes for ALL activity variables.

INFORMATION ON THE ORIGINAL FILES

There is one original file for Australia, 1987:

AUS1987orig.sav contains the demographic and aggregate time use data.

TIME-USE VARIABLES

Activity Variable Documentation for AUSTRALIA, 1987

MTUS
Variable Name / Variable Label / AUSTRALIA 1987
Compiled from original activity (“a”) variables...
AV1 / Formal work / a010 work
a030 Lunch or other breaks
AV2 / Paid work at home / a020 Job search
AV3 / Second job / None
AV4 / School/classes / a510 Full time classes
a520 Part time classes
a540 Breaks at educational institutions
AV5 / Travel to/from work / a080 Travel associated with employment
a580 Travel associated with education
AV6 / Cooking/washing up / a110 Food & drink preparation or clean up
AV7 / Housework / a120 Laundry, ironing and clothes care
a130 Other housework
AV8 / Odd jobs / a142 Pet and animal care
a143 Home maintenance and car care
a144 Household paperwork, bills etc
a610 Helping/caring for sick or disabled relatives
a620 Helping/caring for sick or disabled other persons
a650 Helping doing favors for others
AV9 / Gardening / a141 Gardening, lawn care and pool care
AV10 / Shopping / a310 Purchasing goods
AV11 / Child care / a211 Own children: physical care and minding
a212 Own children: care for sick or disabled
a213 Own children: teaching, helping, reprimanding
a214 Own children: playing reading or talking to
a221 Other children: physical care and minding
a222 Other children: care for sick or disabled
a223 Other children: teaching, helping, reprimanding
a224 Other children: playing reading or talking to
AV12 / Domestic travel / a150 Providing transport for other household members
a180 Travel associated with domestic activities
a280 Travel associated with child care
a380 Travel associated with purchasing goods or services
a480 Travel associated with personal care
AV13 / Dressing/toilet / a420 Washing, grooming, (un)dressing or getting ready
AV14 / Receiving Personal services / a320 Purchasing services
a430 Medical care (including rehab rest)
AV15 / Meals/snacks / a440 Eating and drinking
AV16 / Sleep/naps / a410 Sleeping
AV17 / Leisure travel / a680 Travel associated with welfare or religion
a780 Travel associated with entertainment
a850 Touring/driving for pleasure
a880 Travel associated with active leisure
a980 Travel associated with passive leisure
AV18 / Excursions, trips / a720 Seeing a movie/sporting match/concert/exhibition
AV19 / Playing sport / a810 Sport, exercise and outdoor activities
AV20 / Watching sport / None
AV21 / Walks / None
AV22 / At church / a640 Religious activities/ceremonies
AV23 / Civic organizations / a630 Unpaid community activities/work/obligations
AV24 / Cinema/theatre / None
AV25 / Dance/party, etc. / None
AV26 / Social clubs / a710 Socializing (being visited/going to clubs etc)
AV27 / Pubs / None
AV28 / Restaurants / None
AV29 / Visiting friends / None
AV30 / Listening to radio / None
AV31 / Watching T.V. / a920 Watching TV/video
AV32 / Listening to music, etc. / a930 Listening to radio/records etc
AV33 / Study / a530 Homework, study or research
AV34 / Reading books / None
AV35 / Reading papers/magazines / a910 Reading
AV36 / Relaxing / a450 Smoking
a940 Relaxing/thinking/resting
AV37 / Conversation / a950 Talking (including phone conversations)
AV38 / Entertaining friends / None
AV39 / Knitting/sewing / None
AV40 / Pastimes/hobbies / a820 Games, cards etc
a830 Hobbies/arts/craft/performing music, drama etc
a960 Writing or reading personal correspondence
AV41 / Unknown activity / Misstime

VARIABLE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Ø HLDID

There are 380 cases with missing values for the original variable HHID; records indicate that the first 190 households were not assigned a household identification number. This matter is adjusted so that these cases are assigned a household id different from the previous person’s

household id – except for those cases where people with consecutive

person ids who completed a diary on the same day, who come from the

same household type with the same number of children in the household

and the same original income group, where such persons are assigned

to the same household. These household ids begin at 673 and range to the highest hldid value. Users should note that these higher value household ids are likely to mostly belong to incomplete responding households as the diarists are often married or from household types that are likely to include other adults who in theory should have completed diaries.

Ø MONTH

The survey was conducted in the months of May and June, 1987. However, there is no original variable specifically indicating which month the respondent completed the diary.

Ø AGE2

The original age variable (AGE) is categorical; therefore, the midpoints for each category were taken to create AGE2. AGE2=75 represents respondents 75 and older. Note that the computation of World 5.5 variables requiring age may miscategorize certain respondents.

Ø FAMSTAT

Although there was an original family status variable (FAMSTAT – renamed OFAMSTAT in syntax), it was not sufficient to compute all values of the World 5.5 FAMSTAT. Therefore, a combination of other variables was used. Note that, given the original age variable was categorical (actual age is unknown), some values of FAMSTAT may misrepresent certain respondents, particularly those coded in the under 18 values (FAMSTAT=4,5). These values may unknowingly include respondents who are 18 and 19.

Ø HHTYPE

The value “visitor” (0) for the original household type variable (HHLD) does not provide specific information as to what kind of household the respondent is visiting. This value was coded HHTYPE=4. There is a small number of respondents (n=6) who are coded as “married”, yet are coded as HHTYPE = 1 (one person household).

Ø HHLDSIZE

There is no original variable for household size. Therefore, “number of adults” (NADULTS) and the total number of children in the household (TOTCHILD) were summed to get the household size for each respondent. However, there are 234 cases missing values for HHLDSIZE, due to the cases with missing values for NADULTS.

Ø NCHILD

The original “total number of children in the household variable (TOTCHILD) used to code NCHILD represents the number of children under 15 in the household, rather than the number of children under 18. Given that respondents aged 15-17 living in the parental home were not accounted for by TOTCHILD, NCHILD was coded so as to include them. However, two cautions should be noted. First, this coding excludes resident children aged 15-17 other than the respondent (there is no way to account for them). Second, and very importantly, the original age variable is categorical, with the youngest age category representing 15-19 year olds. Because this category was recoded age 17 in the computation of AGE2, the coding of NCHILD may be including 18 and 19 year old children living in the parental home.

Ø AGEKID

Due to the nature of the original variables KIDS1, KIDS2 and KIDS3, AGEKID=2 represents youngest child aged 5-9 and AGEKID=3 primarily represents youngest child aged 10-14. Given that respondents aged 15-17 living in the parental home were not accounted for by these variables, AGEKID was coded so as to include them; if KIDS1, KIDS2 and KIDS3 were all equal to zero, the <18 years respondent was considered the youngest child in the household. However, two cautions should be noted. First, this coding excludes resident children aged 15-17 other than the respondent who may be younger (there is no way to account for them). Second, and very importantly, the original age variable is categorical, with the youngest age category representing 15-19 year olds. Because this category was recoded age 17 in the computation of AGE2, the coding of AGEKID=3 may be including 18 and 19 year old children as the youngest in the household.

Ø CIVSTAT

The original marital status variable (MS) did not account for cohabiting couples. However, the original variable HHLD (household type) included “de facto” couples in some of its values. Therefore, a combination of these variables was used to compute CIVSTAT=1.

Ø EMPSTAT3

The values “nilf: marginal attachment” and “nilf: no marginal attachment” for the original variable LFS (labour force status) indicate that the respondent is not in the labour force (EMPSTAT3=4); however, it is unknown what is meant by “marginal attachment”. There are no cases coded EMPSTAT3=3.

Ø STUDENT

There is no original ‘student status’ variable; therefore the variable ACTNLF (activity while not in labour force) was used to compute STUDENT. Only 5.2% cases was coded as STUDENT=1. This may be explained by the fact that most respondents are over 15 years old.

Ø RETIRED

There is no original ‘retirement status’ variable; therefore the variable ACTNLF (activity while not in labour force) was used to compute RETIRED.

Ø WORKHRS

The original variable HWLW (“hours worked last week”) is categorical; the mid-point of the range for each category was taken to create WORKHRS. This results in WORKHRS being slightly inaccurate.

Ø INCORIG

The value labels for INCORIG are as follows:

1 'nil'

2 '1-6239'

3 '6240-12479'

4 '12480-18719'

5 '18720-24959'

6 '24960-31199'

7 '31200+'

The original category 0 ‘unknown or not stated’ has been recoded to be -8 ‘Non-Response’.

The original category ‘1’ refers to “no income”. It was regarded as zero income when coding INCOME.

Ø INCOME

The actual proportions represented by each value of INCOME depart substantially from those indicated by the value labels. This is due in part to the fact that the original income variable is categorical, and also to there being 123 cases missing values for income.

Ø EDUCA

The variable “EDUC” was used to create EDUCA. The value labels for EDUCA are as follows:

1 'post school: degree or equivalent'

2 'post school: trade or apprentice'

3 'post school: certificate or diploma'

4 'post school: other'

5 'tertiary study'

6 'attended HSC equiv.'

7 'did not attend HSC equiv.'

8 'left school by 15 or no schooling'

9 'at school'

Ø EDTRY

EDTRY / ISCED / AUSTRALIA87
VAR / EDUCA
1 / No completed high school = level 0,1,2 or Level 3 (upper sec. Educ) not completed / § 7 'did not attend HSC equiv.'
§ 8 'left school by 15 or no schooling'
§ 9 'at school' (respondents who are
15-19 are all in this category)
2 / Level 3 completed
(upper secondary educ)
or Attendance at Level 4
(post-secondary non-tertiary) / § 6 'attended HSC equiv.'
3 / Attendance at Level 5
and above (even if no degree obtained) / § 1 'post school: degree or
equivalent'
§ 2 'post school: trade or apprentice'
§ 3 'post school: certificate or
diploma'
§ 4 'post school: other'
§ 5 'tertiary study'

Ø DISAB

There was no variable in the original dataset specifying disability status. Therefore, DISAB was created using ACTNLF (“main activity while not in labour force”). This might affect comparability to other surveys.

Readme File for Country Year

README FILE FOR AUSTRALIA 1987

CONTENTS:

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SURVEY

INFORMATION ON THE ORIGINAL FILES

TIME-USE VARIABLES

VARIABLE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION