Solution Tag: Context

SOURCE TM

Posted on August 31, 2018 by -

The motivation

In 2017 EUROSTAT started a project to modernise the collection of Social Statistics (ESS – European Social Statistics). By doing so, EUROSTAT builds on the Wiesbaden Memorandum from 2011 that strives for better information about patterns of time-use and consumption of households. More specifically, it involves the time-use survey (TUS) and household budget survey (HBS).

The project

Against this backdrop the SOURCE TM project emerged. SOURCE TM stands for Software OUtreach and Redefinition to Collect E-data Through MOTUS. The central aim of this project is to collect time-use data in Europe in a comparable way. Apart from the Research Group TOR, both STATBEL (the statistical office of Belgium) and DESTATIS (the statistical office of Germany) are involved. Within this project they will expand their knowledge about the MOTUS software platform, focusing on the way data is collected through a MOTUS application that runs both online and offline.

The challenges

The major challenge for the European modernisation project regarding the collection of Social Statistics is striving for comparability while at the same time leaving room for country specific interests (f.e. in terms of questions or activities) and wishes or concerns (f.e. in terms of the influx of respondents or the length of the survey). The MOTUS software platform accepts this challenge, because:

  • MOTUS is developed to design all survey components (questionnaires, diaries, context) as well as all communication with respondents within a single program (i.e. comparability); and
  • MOTUS is capable of adding unique contextual elements to this program at the same time (i.e. country-specific interests/wishes).

The quest for a proper configuration of MOTUS entails two phases of testing:

  • Developing a prototype of an e-TUS (online time-use survey) that will be evaluated by a large groep of scientists and representative that form the Workgroup TUS of EUROSTAT.
  • Having a non-representative sample registering their time-use for two days (one weekday and on weekend day).

“Comparability and customisation are two important conditions for the European modernisation project of collecting Social Statistics to be successful. Both elements are at the base of MOTUS.”

Both TUS and HSB are based on registrations in a diary: TUS for time-use and HBS for household consumption. Logically, both STATBEL and DESTATIS posed the question what it would take to use MOTUS for HBS purposes as well. Since the programming of MOTUS allows for such adaptations, this question has been included as an additional line of research in the project.

The aim

If successful, the aim of the project, which runs from January 2019 till February 2020, is to include MOTUS as a method for online time-use surveys (e-TUS) and online household budget surveys (e-HBS) in the CSPA catago. CSPA stand for Common Statistical Production Architecture. It describes that standards and principles for the production of national statistics and is aimed at improving the comparability of results.

BEHAVE: setup of a behavioural panel through MOTUS

Posted on August 31, 2018 by -

Background

Online panels are unavoidable in science

An individual’s opinion is central to better understanding the needs and behaviours of customers, users of services, and employees. The power of opinion is getting more important in market research. The internet provides a quick and cheap way to collect opinions, which gives online panels an important role in the collection of market oriented data (see regulations ISO26362). Fast and cheap available data also leads to the increased use of online panels for scientific purposes.

How reliable and valid are online panels?

Companies exploiting panels parade with the size of their panels and the subpopulations that are part of it. These two elements support the service they provide: opinions of a representative sample of the population or group in question.

On the contrary, information about the recruitment or entry of panel members is often scarce. This information, however, is essential for knowing the (non-)response rate and make generalised statements about a (sub)population. More information, for example about how often panel members participate successfully and about the quality of their answers, is often lacking as well.

A prerequisite for reliable and valid results is a random sample (f.e. from the National Register). This increases the representativeness of the panel and supports generalised statements about a (sub)populations. At the same time, all decisions and steps in the process of creating a panel need to be documented.

International examples of academic panels

There are a small number of panels in Europe that are managed according to academic standards. Examples are

  • LISS panel – Langlopende Internet Studies voor de Sociale wetenschappen – The Netherlands
  • GESIS panel – Leibniz-Institute für Sozialwissenschaften – Germany
  • ELIPSS panel – Étude Longitudinale par Internet Pour les Sciences Sociales – France

Outside Europe, some leading panels exists. Examples are:

  • HILDA panel – Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia – Australia
  • ALP panel – American Life Panel – America
  • UAS panel – Understanding America Study – America

It is striking that most panels are oriented towards social sciences with a focus on the individual. The HILDA panel is an exception. This panel focusses on the household from an (socio-)economic point of view.

Project BEHAVE

Design and aim

Project BEHAVE combines the need for an academically oriented panel with the focus on expanding knowledge on longitudinal patterns of behaviour. Data on human behaviour will be collected using the MOTUS software platform, both by means of active and passive registration. The project includes an interdisciplinary team and has the following goals:

  • Creating a panel in Belgium according to academic principles of reliability and validity;
  • Linking this panel to MOTUS, which will serve as the respondent management and research coordination platform;
  • Expanding existing methods of active registration (i.e. active involvement of respondent) with methods of passive registration (i.e. using wearables, sensors, and databases linked to MOTUS);
  • Focussing on a longitudinal, multidisciplinary, and open source data collection strategy.

Together, these aims make BEHAVE a unique project.

The process

The BEHAVE project exists of three types of partners. Central to the project is a multidisciplinary team of scientists at the VUB, from the department of Social Sciences & Solvay Business Schools, the department of Engineering Sciences, the department of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the department of Physical Education and Physiotherapy. In addition, an open call is done to include other scientific institutes. Finally, third parties can participate as well, as there might be: policy institutions, ngo’s, non-profit organisation, companies, etc. At this moment, 23 third parties have expressed their interest, including the Belgian statistical office (STATBEL).

“The research community needs an academic panel to render reliable and valid opinions of people. This holds both for scientific as well as for market research.”

The academic principles of reliability and validity are priority when creating the BEHAVE panel, as is securing privacy of its panel members.

Aim: at least 5,000 to 10,000 panel members

The project aims to include 5,000 randomly selected respondents in a panel in the first phase of the project. Behavioural research requires a greater effort of respondents than opinion research. This means that large scale studies can at most be repeated every three months. This can be supplemented with studies of a smaller scale. In a second phase, the project aims to increase the size of the panel to 10,000 respondents. Based on the interest and inclusion of other institutions, this number might rise.

Learn more?

The project starts in October 2018 and runs for four years. If you want to learn more about the project and the possibility to be included, contact Joeri Minnen.

Pedestrian zone and daily life in Brussels

Posted on August 31, 2018 by -

Background: pedestrian zone in Brussel

To answer to a pressing question of the community of Brussels, a decision was taken to extend the pedestrian zone in down-town Brussels. The expansion is located around the Anspachlaan and the Grote Markt (the green zone in the figure). Despite administrative implementation, the pedestrian zone is not functional yet. A number of road works are still ongoing to connect all separate zones. One major road work site is located at Fontainais. The pedestrian zone is expected to be fully functional by the end of 2018. The completing also kicks off this project.

The project: the use of the pedestrian zone

The aim of this project is to analyse the impact of the pedestrian zone on daily life in down-town Brussels. Amongst other things, we are interested to see how a car-free zone affects the daily activities of the residents and if certain lifestyle changes are permanent.

The questions central to this project are: how and in what way will the pedestrian zone be used? How will the pedestrian zone affect people’s daily life? And how do users experience the pedestrian zone?

The challenges: measuring time and space

Partners in this project are the BSI (Brussels Studies Institute), the ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles), the Research Group TOR and hbits. hbits is responsible for mapping daily life and the use of the pedestrian zone. To do so, it uses MOTUS. In this project, it is important to take both time, space, and social interaction into account. Space is defined as the pedestrian zone itself (probably divided in subzones) as well as the interaction with the space outside the pedestrian zone. Furthermore, the use of the pedestrian zone is not only characterised by a temporal context, that is, when and how often is it used, but also by a social context (i.e. with whom and for what reason).

In this project, the MOTUS-app will use API-locations. The API allows us not only to follow the trajectory of respondents along spatial dimensions, it also allows us to ask specific questions about their experience of the pedestrian zone. Combining the MOTUS-app with API-location allows hbits to map the temporal (i.e. when, how often, for how long), the spatial (i.e. where) and social (i.e. what and with whom) context of the use of the pedestrian zone.

“To map the temporal, spatial and social context of the use of the pedestrian zone, the MOTUS-app uses API-location.”

Mapping the context: teachers’ workload

Posted on January 5, 2018 by -

Background

It is the paradox of the teaching profession: a heavy workload and high time pressure versus the idea of short working days and lots of holidays. The discrepancy of what teacher say they are doing and the picture society has about what they think they are doing is persistent. It leads to discussion bout the misconception of the teaching profession and the number of tasks not related to teaching, both in society as well as as in politics.

The assignment

Against the backdrop of the political discussion about the teaching profession, the Minster of Education Hilde Crevits ordered a study, which is aimed at objectively measuring the working time and workload of teacher in primary and secondary education (including special secondary education). On top of that, information on teachers’ working conditions should provide additional context. The MOTUS software platform will be used to collect context-rich behavioural data.

“MOTUS maps the workload and context of teachers: what they do, how much, when, where, with whom, with what sort of technological support, and with what motivation.”

The project

The project period runs from January to April 2018 and participation entails sevensteps:

  1. A media campaign asks all teachers (approx. 155.000) in Flanders to participate in the study.
  2. To participate, teachers submit a valid email address on an informative website hetgrotetijdsonderzoek.be.
  3. MOTUS sends out a confirmation e-mail, that includes a unique username and password, together with an invitation to complete a profile questionnaire on motusresearch.io. This profile questionnaire includes an identifier to be linked with administrative data.
  4. Based on the completed profile questionnaires, teachers will be dispersed over the fieldwork period.
  5. Teachers will be invited to fill in a pre-questionnaire which asks about their demographic characteristics and characteristics of their school and class.
  6. Hereafter teachers start their 7-day time-diary registration.
  7. To finalise their participation, teachers complete a post-questionnaire which asks about the previous registration week.

The results

After data collection and preparation of the datasets, multiple reports will be handed over to the Minister of Education Hilde Crevits and the steering committee, which includes educational umbrella organisations and education unions. When the project ends, teachers will get an overview of their own time registration and a possibility to compare their results with the averages of comparable others, all with guarantee of privacy.

Impact of a 30-hour workweek on daily practices

Posted on January 5, 2018 by -

Reviving societal debate(s)

The debate on reducing working hours is reviving. Researchers, as well labour movements and even political parties see advantages in a collective decrease in working time. Working time has been decreasing since the beginning of the 20th century, due to increases in technological productivity. However, in some countries this trend has reversed in the last decades. Arguments for a workweek of 8 hours less than the usual 38 have risen. The arguments are displayed on the personal, household, societal and economical level.

Experiments abroad

The debate on reducing working hours in Belgium resembles the debates held in other countries. In some countries, mostly Scandinavian, some organisations have adopted the 30-hour workweek and evaluated the outcomes of this reduction in working hours.

Most discussions turn to one experiment in Sweden: the retirement home in Svartedalen where the nursing staff works only 6 hours per day over 5 working days, after the new working time arrangements were adopted. The experiment took place between February 2015 and December 2016. To compensate the loss in working hours, almost 15 FTE were hired.  Two control groups were used in this experiment. The findings of the shorter workweek turned out to be the following:

  • [Personal] Reduced working hours had a positive impact on the employees’ health
  • [Client] The quality of the service was improved
  • [Societal] The decrease in working time had created more jobs
  • [Economic] The financial cost had increased

Femma vzw

Situated in Schaarbeek (Brussels) Femma employs 62 women and one man. Most of them work full time, and are higher educated. In 2016 Femma outlined multiple strategies to balance the responsibilities for work and family.

Besides supporting an experiment in Belgium, Femma as a woman organization wants to supplement this debate by showing how these extra 6 hours a week have a positive impact on the combination of work-and-family. In doing so, Femma raises this debate from an intrinsic individual story to the societal level where the 6 extra hours influences multiple life spheres and in which more than only the employee has a benefit. Furthermore, the collective reducing of the working hours has been a feminist demand since the 1970s. The idea is that this will help reduce gender inequality in paid and unpaid work.

Action-research

In 2019, an ‘action-research’ will be kicked-off in which these employees and their family members will encounter the reduction in working hours in real life.  During the period of one year all employees will work 6 hours per day, with their wages being unchanged.

Have a look to the project poster of Femma

The main goal of this research is to build up practical knowledge in how a 30-hour workweek supports the combination of work and family. Therefore, not only the employees but also their partners will be asked to participate in a research of two times one week during 2019.

The research consists of time recording through MOTUS including activities related to work and private spheres. In this way, an insight in how work and family interrelates is achieved.

Two questionnaires will also be filled in by all the participants. In 2018 a preliminary research will be carried out and in 2020, when Femma employees return to their 36-hour week, respondents will be asked to complete a time registration once again. In this way, an insight in how work and family interrelates in different working time schedules is achieved.

Goal of Femma

Besides their contribution to the societal debate, this research should be understood as real-life case study in which an investment shows both the costs and benefits on all levels. So not only less work and higher cost but also the impact on the absenteeism, the living standards, and the happiness in life will be a valuable addition to our knowledge.

News Diversity

Posted on January 5, 2018 by -

Diversity and information media

News diversity is an essential part of a good working democracy. To frame this, we will examine the following 3 dimensions in this project: (1) diversity of issues, (2) diversity of actors, and (3) viewpoint (or opinion) diversity.

Information media diversity under threat

At present the feeling prevails that the news diversity is jeopardised. To asses this threat the project starts from 3 assumptions:

  • The diversity of media is increasing, in part because of the Internet-based information supply
  • The diversity of supply is not applicable to more political and social sensitive themes
  • The use of media content is increasingly segmented, which means that news diversity on the individual level just might decrease

Users diversity

Recent studies give an insight in how and which platforms play a role in the consumption of media. Information on what people consume is rather scarce and not coherent.  Moreover, also the link between audience segments (gender, age, education, ethnicity, profession …) and news content becomes increasingly important to figure out.

Grasping news use/consumption is hard to organise

With the advancements is mobile technology people can consume news and media by different devices, giving them access to different sources as well as to new sources, while also the situational context is less restrictive to the consumption of news. It is therefore hard to pinpoint how news is being consumed. This calls for a more holistic view on how media and news are imbedded in our daily lives.

“MOTUS is perfectly suited to capture at the same time the news users’ repertoire and the socio-spatial context of news use.”

How?

For this project hbits will:

  1. Make it possible to map the news use patterns of 600 respondents between 18 and 45 years old, and for 7 consecutive days
  2. Extra tasks will be asked to the respondent based on notifications send via the MOTUS-app, eg. to scan personal social media pages and give details about the source, the content, … but we will also ask about their attitudes towards diversity
  3. Provide information for a focus group discussion

Accurately examining the workload of university teaching staff in the US

Posted on February 14, 2017 by -

The ADVANCE programme in the US

The ADVANCE programme is designed to examine the workload of university teaching staff in various faculties. This programme runs over a period of 5 years: from 2015 to 2020.  The aim: to obtain a picture of the problems and obstacles experienced by a university teacher in carrying out his or her job.

Accurate screening as a condition for decision-making

Teachers divide their time between giving classes, providing services and carrying out research. But exactly how they do that is a contentious issue.

Until recently the discussion was about their workload, based on data collected using questionnaires. However, there was also a need for more accurate and more nuanced way of looking at teachers’ use of time.

A survey using the MOTUS software platform provided the solution. Because MOTUS looks beyond simply how long each activity lasts: it includes the timing, tempo and sequence of the tasks to be carried out.

MOTUS looks beyond simply how long each activity lasts: it includes timing, tempo and sequence of the tasks to be carried out.

Universe and method

Teaching staff at the ‘Big 10’ universities in the US was the universe aimed at by the survey. Some 9,000 teachers at a total 14 faculties were involved, ranging from social sciences to physics and mathematics. They were invited to register their tasks retrospectively for 24 hours (4 am – 4 am). The list of work activities was produced in conjunction with the University of Maryland and Professor Dr Liana Sayer.

The survey set-up divided the 9,000 teachers into 6 groups. Each group was allocated to either a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

The fieldwork was spread over 3 weeks in February/March 2016. The MOTUS software platform automatically invited every teacher to register their use of time at the right moment. If necessary, the teachers received up to a maximum of 2 reminders, each exactly one week after the previous invitation/reminder. This was also done automatically.

Collect & repeat

At the present time, individual teachers are receiving guidance based on the data collected. And thanks to the data, the coordinators of the respective faculties and universities can make strategic choices within their institutions and disciplines.

High schools in the US will also be working with this set-up in 2017.