Time Use: Expanding Explanation in the Social Sciences [Paperback] Michelson, William H.

Product Description Many researchers have studied people's everyday use of time. National and international agencies increasingly collect and analyze time-use data. Yet this perspective and its techniques remain a black box to most social science researchers and applied practitioners, and the potential of time-use data to expand explanation in the social sciences is not fully recognized by even most time-use researchers.Sociologist William Michelson's unique book places the study of time-use data in perspective, demystifies its collection and analytic options, and carefully examines the potential of time-use analysis for a wide range of benefits to the social sciences. These include the sampling of otherwise socially .hidden. groups, bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative phenomena, gender studies, family dynamics, multitasking, social networks, built environments, and risk exposure. Review "Social scientists are engaged in understanding how people live. In this valuable book William Michelson shows that the detailed study of how people spend their days should be a major tool in that enterprise. In addition to a lucid introduction to the method the book offers a fascinating illustration of its application in comparing the lives of women and men in our society." ―Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2002 “William Michelson’s examination of time use data, its use and its explanatory power, provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the intricacies of these data as well as illuminating the potential power these data holds for explanation in the social sciences.” ―Canadian Journal of Sociology Online About the Author William Michelson is the S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Among his recent books are Handbook of Environmental Sociology (Greenwood 2001) and Environmental Choice, Human Behavior, and Residential Satisfaction (Oxford 1977).