During 1965 and 1966, social scientists from 12 countries collected 24-h time-use diaries and interviews from over 25,000 people. Efforts to ensure uniformity of data-gathering and coding methods paid off, resulting in one of the richest data bases in the history of cross-cultural research. A full description of the Multinational Comparative Time-Budget Research Project, including several applications of the results and a bibliography of publications derived from these data, can be found in The Use of Time (Szalai et al., 1972). Since this definitive work appeared, developments in the use of computers in the social sciences (for example, more flexible software for data management and statistical treatment) have made possible more detailed analyses of this massive data set. We completed a major reformatting and reordering of data from the Multinational Time-Budget Study to undertake studies of particular activities. In this paper we provide some examples of the kinds of insights that can be gained from focusing on infrequently occurring behaviors and behavioral settings and suggest how this approach might be applied in studies of mental disorder.

To put into perspective the applications for which data organization at the level of activities are most suitable, it is useful to contrast them with more traditional time-budget applications.