Study title

United Kingdom

Household

Letters inviting participation in the project were sent to addresses selected at random from the electoral registers for three wards of Bristol. 29 families responded. Each family partook in a range of activities spread over 1 week:1. Each member (adults but children too if they were willing) filled in a qualitative time diary detailing what they did when, who with, what else they were doing and any reflections. The diaries were filled in from Sunday through to Tuesday and have been transcribed verbatim.2. On the Wednesday evening, Thursday evening and Saturday day time the families were observed by one of the research team – files are referred to as obs 1, obs 2 and obs 3 respectively. Participation of the observer was minimised so as to maximise ability to note as much of what was happening down as possible. In some families, only two observations were possible; for the Allen family, 4 observations were carried out as it was the first, pilot family.3. Usually on the Friday evening the participants gave a tour of their homes, talking about the rooms and the items in them.4. At some point in the week a ‘go along’ interview was conducted, in which members of the participating household would take the research on a routine journey and talk about it.5. Finally, on the Sunday after the time diaries began, there was a semi-structured household interview. In some cases children were present and contributed, in others they weren't. On a few occasions, due to scheduling problems, adults were interviewed separately. The interviews covered demographic details, a brief life history and future plans/hopes of each parent and then various aspects of everyday life, including description of a typical day (at work and home), views on education, leisure activities and interests, division of domestic labour, uses of and views on the local area and Bristol, possibilities for mobility and what made them happy.3 further families took part in interviews only. One of these was recruited in the normal manner but then was unable to take part in the full programme; two others were recruited via a debt advice agency so as to increase the diversity of participants.