The space-time budget method in criminological research

Abstract

This article reviews the Space-Time Budget method developed by Wikström and colleagues and particularly discusses its relevance for criminological research. The Space-Time Budget method is a data collection instrument aimed at recording, retrospectively, on an hour-by-hour basis, the whereabouts and activities of respondents during four days in the week before the interview. The method includes items about criminologically relevant events, such as offending and victimization. We demonstrate that the method can be very useful in criminology, because it enables the study of situational causes of crime and victimization, because it enables detailed measurement of theoretical concepts such as individual lifestyles and individual routine activities, and because it enables the study of adolescents' whereabouts, which extends the traditional focus on residential neighborhoods. The present article provides the historical background of the method, explains how the method can be applied, presents validation results based on data from 843 secondary school students in the Netherlands and describes the methods' strengths and weaknesses. Two case studies are summarized to illustrate the usefulness of the method in criminological research. The article concludes with some anticipated future developments and recommendations on further readings. To enable cross-national comparison of time use, Szalai and colleagues developed methods for sampling, interviewing, coding and data processing that were implemented in all twelve participating countries. These methods and instruments shaped most of the subsequent time use studies (Harvey and Pentland 1999: 6; Michelson 2005: 12).Time use studies have now appeared on a variety of topics and in a variety of fields. Recent overviews mention time use studies within economics, business administration, gerontology, urban planning, political science and occupational therapy, nursing and medicine, recreation and physical and health education, sociology, anthropology and psychology. Just to give a few examples: in economics, time use data is applied for investigating poverty (e.g., whether individuals have too many obligations to enjoy leisure) or the time spent on paid work relative to 'nonmarket-productive' time such as time spent on domestic activity, education or child care. Health studies and studies in gerontology apply time use data to investigate active and sedentary behavior and time use by older

Spatial Dimensions of the Effect of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Delinquency*

“…For example, survey‐based research should probe not only for whether respondents have engaged in criminal behavior within a given time frame but also for where the behaviors took place. Likewise, the utilization of space–time budget (or diary) methodologies that prompt respondents to report where they were and what they were doing at a given time of day may help to achieve this goal (Hoeben et al., ).…”

Daily crime flows within a city

“…7 Both old and new technologies have shed light on how youths allocate time and the consequences for offending or victimization (see review in Hoeben et al 2014).…”

Associations between Risky Lifestyles and Involvement in Violent Crime during Adolescence

“…A space-time budget and a questionnaire were employed sequentially (approximately 2 × 45 min) on the same occasion for each participant. The space-time budget (STB) is a structured individual interview methodology in which the interviewer asks the interviewees face-to-face about their whereabouts during the four days before the interview (for a review and description of the STB methodology, see Hoeben, Bernasco, Weerman, Pauwels, & Van Halem, 2014;Wikström et al, 2012). To provide a description of the interviewees' lives in terms of both weekday and weekend activities, each interview pertained to the last Friday and Saturday before the interview and the two weekdays (Monday-Thursday) leading up to the interview.…”

“…However, because the STB only covers four days, it is not a reliable means of measuring very rare events, such as the prevalence of offending and victimization (Hoeben et al, 2014). The questionnaire, on the other hand, refers to an entire year which makes it much more likely to capture these rare events more accurately.…”