Description

Where and how family members spend time at home: A quantitative analysis of observational tracking of everyday lives of Italian families

FRANCESCO ARCIDIACONO

University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland CLOTILDE PONTECORVO ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT

This paper examines a dataset that derives from an observational tracking, in order to analyze where and how middle-class working families spend time at home. We use an ethnographic approach to study the everyday lives of Italian dual-income middle-class families, with the aim to analyze quantitatively the use of home spaces and the types of activities of family members on weekday afternoons and evenings. The different analyses (multiple correspondence analysis, agglomerative hierarchical cluster, discriminant analysis) show how particular spaces and activities in these spaces are dominated by certain family members. We suggest a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies as useful tools to explore in detail the everyday lives of families, and to understand how family members use the domestic spaces. In particular, we consider relevant the use of quantitative analyses to examine ethnographic data, especially in connection with the methodological reflexivity among researchers.

Keywords: working families, ethnographic data, observational tracking, everyday life, domestic spaces, activities at home, multiple correspondence analysis, discriminant analysis