Assessing the Validity of Informant Recall: Results of a Time Use Pilot Study in Peri-Urban Egypt

This article presents the results of a time use pilot study comparing informant recall with direct observation in a peri-urban Egyptian village. The operations research was conducted to determine whether informant recall could substitute for direct observation as a method to elicit accurate information on individuals' daily patterns of time allocation in this village. Trained fieldworkers, using two structured protocols (one for informant recall and the other for direct observation), collected time use data on 40 study participants as they performed routine tasks at home and away from home. Data were stratified by household subsistence type (agricultural versus non-agricultural) and recall errors were calculated. Results of the analysis indicated that the estimated recall error of 56% was unacceptable and that an observational protocol would generate more accurate time use data in our study site. We, therefore, modified the pilot study's observational protocol for implementation in the final study. We found this process and its results very useful in weighing our time allocation research options and recommend that others follow a similar research strategy when deciding on time allocation methods for implementation in developing countries.