The development of the TOPS provides an answer to the need for a valid and
reliable tool for the evaluation of organisation of daily life tasks on time
judged by the respondent him or herself. It was utilised in a diverse population
of 228 adults in Israel and was found to have good content, face and concurrent
validity, with acceptable internal consistency. Further, validity was
demonstrated by its three domains and by its distinction between age
groups in organisation of time. The TOPS questionnaire addresses the need
to use ecologically valid assessments for evaluating perceived organisation
of time, which relates to executive control (Burgess et al., 2006). Executive
control has become a major topic of discussion in theory and research in
recent years (e.g., McCloskey, Perkins, & Van Divner, 2008).
The main limitation of the current study is that it used a stratified sample,
but in a snowball method, and thus participants in each class may share the
same characteristics and not be a representative sample. Future studies
using larger, representative samples should be performed to expand and
strengthen our preliminary findings. It is also recommended that the TOPS
be studied for test–retest reliability. Furthermore, although the instrument
was initially examined among typical adults, future research using the
TOPS should evaluate organisation of time among adults from diverse
populations with varied disabilities that may have an impact on their
participation.