Multiway data analysis for comparing time use in different countries - Application to timebudgets at different stages of life in six European countries

Important time-budget methodological issues are concerned with analysing time use tables, obtainable from time-budget diaries to face the multipurpose nature, the size and the complexity of time-budget data. After a brief introduction to the main time use analysis the paper focuses on the cross-sectional analysis using the explorative multidimensional data analysis. The paper deals with the multiway methods suitable for comparing statistical studies (i.e. countries) when each of them has many variables (i.e. activities) observed on many cases (i.e. categories of population). This article examines an example of application to cross-national differences in time use in six European countries at different stages of life. The results are exemplary of the applicational steps and statistical aspects of the methods proposed rather than definitive findings.