Many researchers have studied people's everyday use of time. National and international agencies increasingly collect and analyze time-use data. Yet this perspective and its techniques remain a black box to most social science researchers and applied practitioners, and the potential of time-use data to expand explanation in the social sciences is not fully recognized by even most time-use researchers. Sociologist William Michelson's unique book places the study of time-use data in perspective, demystifies its collection and analytic options, and carefully examines the potential of time-use analysis for a wide range of benefits to the social sciences. These include the sampling of otherwise socially "e;hidden"e; groups, bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative phenomena, gender studies, family dynamics, multitasking, social networks, built environments, and risk exposure.

Preface Acknowledgements 1. Time-Use: Strategic Value from a Ubiquitous Resource 2. Demystifying Time-Use Collection 3. Directions of Analysis and Their Implications 4. Studying "Hidden" Groups through Behavioral Sampling 5. Bridging the Gap between Qualitative and Quantitative: The Experience of Gender in Everyday Life 6. Patterning in Everyday Life: Episode Occurrences and Sequences 7. Patterns beneath the Surface: The Texture of Multitasking 8. Social Contact and Family Dynamics in Temporal Perspective 9. Behavioral Implications of Built Environments 10.Exposure to Risk