Measuring short and rare activities – Time diaries in criminology

Sjoerd Van Halem (), Evelien M. Hoeben (), Wim Bernasco and Tom F. M. Ter Bogt ()
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Sjoerd Van Halem: Staff Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University
Evelien M. Hoeben: Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement
Tom F. M. Ter Bogt: Staff Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University

electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, 2016, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-33

Abstract: Motivated by recent time use studies in criminology, this study examined whether time diaries are suitable for measuring short and rare activities such as offending. The study compared time diary data collected among 843 adolescents from the conurbation of The Hague (the Netherlands) with stylized questionnaire data from the same respondents, and with stylized questionnaire data from another sample that is representative for Dutch adolescents (N = 1849). Based on the reported offenses in the diaries (N = 101), findings indicate that time diaries may underestimate population offense rates and may not capture offenses committed by low-frequent offenders. On the other hand, time diaries seem able to measure changes in individuals’ involvement in offending over time and to capture most of the situational conditions under which offenses occur. The study concludes with suggestions for dealing with the problems associated with measuring short and rare activities.

Keywords: Short and rare activities; crime; time diaries; validity; time use methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C00 C80 C83 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:leu:journl:2016:vol13:issue1:p1-33

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