Conventional wisdom holds that most Americans lead a frenzied existence and are constantly trying to cram too much into too little time. The authors are respectively Director of the Americans' Use of Time Project at the University of Maryland and Professor of Leisure Studies at Penn State University. The major advantage of this method is that, in contrast to other survey techniques, it forces participants to account for their complete day without relying on memory. The drawbacks are that it records only primary activities and that certain activities tend to be under-reported. For example, if a commuter always reads the paper on the 45 minute subway ride into work but only logs the commute itself, three hours and forty-five minutes per week of reading go unrecorded.
People also tend to under-report certain activities, which can lead to paradoxical results.
Despite these shortcomings, however, the authors have gathered enough data over the decades to make some surprising conclusions. The first deals with perceived vs. actual time pressure. For example, Americans who actually work 55 hours per week think that they work at least 65 hours a week. The researchers also supplemented the time diaries with surveys when dealing with activities such as cultural events. And even these totals are suspect, since respondents who want to make a good impression may exaggerate their attendance.