A Comparison of Labor Time Estimates between Diaries and Direct Questions: An Example of Married Women in the Flower Production Industry

Abstract

In the West, time estimates between direct questions and time diaries have long been debated in sociological and economic analyses of household labor and market labor; no similar studies have been conducted in Taiwan. The author interviewed self-employed married women in the flower production industry to examine differences in estimates of unpaid labor time between time diaries and direct questions. Survey and ethnographic data were used to validate the time diaries by investigating differences in diary estimates between weekdays and weekends, overestimates from direct questions, and possible explanations for overestimates. The results generally support the idea that time-diaries-keeping is an appropriate means of measuring labor time. The participants who reported long work hours tended to exaggerate their time spent on farm and household tasks. Given the divergent findings on social-psychological effects in a small sample of farm women, the results demonstrate a good frame of reference for subsequent methodological studies, particularly those related to lifestyle, time-use, and gender divisions in markets and household labor. The study limitations point to a need for revising measures of social desirability, refining analytical models of overestimates, conducting more research on time diary reliability and validity, making comparative analyses of multiple methods for time data collection, and replicating past studies using a representative national sample and longitudinal design.