Developing a Self-Administered 

Eldercare Module for the American 

Time Use Survey

10.27.22

Zoe Grotophorst, NORC

Stephanie Denton, Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Background

American Time Use Survey (ATUS)

• Sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and fielded by the 

Census Bureau

• Measures the amount of time Americans age 15 or older spend 

doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, 

and socializing.

• Contains a time diary where respondents report their main 

activities for a 24-hour period

• Has been conducted since 2003 as a CATI interview

https://www.bls.gov/tus/overview
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Background

Measuring Eldercare

• Since 2011, the ATUS has included questions about eldercare to measure time spent providing 

unpaid care to older individuals 

• For this task order, NORC designed and cognitively tested introductory language, questions, 

and screen layouts for collecting ATUS eldercare data in a self-administered web survey
VISUALS & DIAGRAMS : PROCESS WITH OPTIONAL GROUPINGS BY LABEL 4

Overview of the Eldercare Module

Time diary of 

previous 24 

hours

Provided 

eldercare in 

past 3 months

Details about 

care provided

Details about 

care 

recipients

Provided 

eldercare 

yesterday

Classify time 

diary activities 

as eldercare
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Methodology

Two rounds of cognitive interviewing 

• 50 interviews (27 in Round 1 and 23 in Round 2)

• Recruited from AmeriSpeak panel

• Included eldercare providers and non-eldercare providers

• Interviews focused on key elements to identifying caregivers, better understand 

how respondents think about and define caregiving, and how they report their own 

caregiving experiences

• Interviews conducted via Zoom with the respondent controlling the screen

• Questions and protocol were revised between rounds
6

Research Questions

Can respondents, without the help of a telephone interviewer: 

• Self identify as eldercare providers or non-eldercare providers?

• Exclude caregiving done for pay?

• Exclude caregiving for people with disabilities and dependent care?

• Identify which activities in their time diary were eldercare activities?
Results from Cognitive Testing
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 8

Key Challenges Observed in Round 1

1. Defining eldercare

2. Self-identifying as caregivers

3. Including care recipients who did not have conditions related to aging

4. Classifying time diary activities as eldercare
9

Challenge 1: Defining eldercare

Time diary of 

previous 24 

hours

Provided 

eldercare in 

past 3 months

Details about 

care provided

Details about 

care 

recipients

Provided 

eldercare 

yesterday

Classify time 

diary activities 

as eldercare

RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 10

Challenge 1: Defining eldercare

• To measure eldercare, we needed to provide a clear definition of it

• There is no standard definition

• Needed to distinguish eldercare from general care or dependent care
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 11

Challenge 1: Defining eldercare
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 12

Changes made in Round 2 • Merged 

definitions on to 

one page

• Deleted “usually”
13

Challenge 2: Self identifying as eldercare providers

Time diary of 

previous 24 

hours

Provided 

eldercare in 

past 3 months

Details about 

care provided

Details about 

care 

recipients

Provided 

eldercare 

yesterday

Classify time 

diary activities 

as eldercare

RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 14

Challenge 2: Self identifying as eldercare providers

• Less intensive 

caregiving was 

missed

• “Financial assistance” 

was misinterpreted as 

financial 

management/ 

administration
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 15

Changes made in Round 2 • Changed order of 

question elements

• Changed “financial 

assistance” to 

“money”

• Reordered and 

added examples
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 16

Challenge 3: Including care recipients who did not have conditions 

related to aging

Time diary of 

previous 24 

hours

Provided 

eldercare in 

past 3 months

Details about 

care provided

Details about 

care 

recipients

Provided 

eldercare 

yesterday

Classify time 

diary activities 

as eldercare
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 17

Challenge 3: Including care recipients who did not have conditions 

related to aging

• “This care” was vague

• Some respondents had 

difficulty deciding who to 

include in their answers
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 18

Changes made in Round 2

Round 1 wording:

Since the 1st of [MONTH], did you provide 

this care for anyone living in your 

household?

Round 2 wording:

Since the 1st of [MONTH], did you provide 

care or assistance for an adult living in 

your household who needed help because 

of a condition related to aging?
RESULTS FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 19

Challenge 4: Classifying time diary activities as eldercare

Time diary of 

previous 24 

hours

Provided 

eldercare in 

past 3 months

Details about 

care provided

Details about 

care 

recipients

Provided 

eldercare 

yesterday

Classify time 

diary activities 

as eldercare
CHALLENGES FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 20

Challenge 4: Classifying time diary activities as eldercare
CHALLENGES FROM COGNITIVE TESTING 21

Challenge 4: Classifying time diary activities as eldercare

• Most correctly classified their activities

• Some caregiving activities were not captured in the time diary

– Activities forgotten during reporting

– Small activities

– Caregiving activities done concurrently with another activity
22

Changes made in Round 2 • Revised the instructions to help 

respondents focus only on eldercare

• Added spaces for respondents to 

enter any forgotten activities – This was effective for capturing 

non-reported eldercare activities

– All activities were concurrent with 

primary activities from time diary

CHALLENGES FROM COGNITIVE TESTING
23

Key Successes

 Respondents were able to correctly self-identify as eldercare providers

 Respondents were able to exclude non-relevant caregiving from reporting:

– Childcare

– Care for people with disabilities

– Purely monetary assistance

– Eldercare done for pay

 Respondents were able to classify their time diary entries as eldercare or not 

eldercare
24

Areas for Further Exploration

• How to encourage the right level of detail in time use reporting so short but 

important eldercare activities are consistently reported 

• How to effectively capture eldercare done concurrently with another activity
Thank you.

Zoe Grotophorst

Grotophorst-zoe@norc.org

Stephanie Denton

denton.stephanie@bls.gov