Measures of Time Together A final ingredient in family strength is spending time together. Researchers note that this includes quality as well as quantity of time. Self-report instruments assessing family functioning address this topic in terms of the quality of time spent together, and the extent to which families enjoy spending time together. Questions are asked about whether "family members like to spend their free time with each other" (Olson's FACES) and about "spending time together and doing things with each other" (Stinnett and DeFrain, Family Strengths Inventory). Detailed methodological work on this construct has been conducted by researchers interested in time use per se, which could be adapted for use in the study of successful families.