The intensive hour technique: random time sampling

Based on a smartphone app, the intensive hour technique (random time sampling) (RTS) gathers time use data about employment-related activities. This information is missing in standard 24-hour time use surveys due to anxieties about (1) respondent burden and (2) the potential for industrial provocation. The RTS samples two or three one-hour notifications of employment time per working day, over a few weeks, each notification taking less than two minutes. RTS collects insufficient information to measure individual performance, but provides an accurate estimate of what typically happens in a given occupation: weekly hours of work; allocation of time; timing of tasks (by season, by day of the week and by time of day); social context and location of activities; and self-rated experience of employment-related activities. Data from pilot studies undertaken so far illustrates how this done.