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51 APPENDIX A Synthesis Survey Survey Introduction Welcome to this survey about how transit agencies are conducting customer survey research. TCRP has commissioned this study to understand how transit agencies are conducting survey research and whether or not they are using web-based surveys in their research. This questionnaire will take approximately 30­50 minutes to complete. Your answers will be confidential and will be used only for this study. Any sections of this survey that ask about your organization that are then used in the TCRP Synthesis Report will be submitted to you for your approval prior to publication. Please click "NEXT" in the lower left corner of the screen to continue. If you need to return to a previous screen, use your browser's "Back" button. If you fail to finish the survey in one sitting and need to come back to it later, simply click on the same e-mail link that brought you into this survey and you will be able to pick up right where you left off. Screener Questions 1) What type of organization do you work for? Public transit agency ___ Consultancy ___ University ___ Metropolitan planning organization ___ Transportation management association ___ Vanpool/carpool provider ___ State administrators of FTA programs (elderly and disabled, JARC, rural) ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 2) Does your organization conduct surveys related to transit use and/or transit planning? Yes ___ No (terminate) ___ Survey Inventory Questions 3) How often does your organization conduct the following types of customer research surveys?

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Less than once per year but More Two to more Less than 4 four than than times times Once per every 5 every 5 Don't per year per year year years years Never know Origin­destination surveys Customer satisfaction surveys Mode choice (demand forecasting) surveys Other planning surveys Other, please specify: 4) Does your organization have customer panel surveys that you survey repeatedly? Yes ___ No ___ 5) (If yes to Question 4.) Does your organization conduct longitudinal panel surveys; that is, the same survey with the same people conducted more than once? Yes ___ No ___ 6) Does your organization conduct repeated cross-sectional surveys; that is, the same survey conducted more than once but with a different sample each time? Yes ___ No ___ 7) (Cycle through all selected survey types from Question 3 up to a maximum of three types.) For your most recent survey: What riders/users of the Were there any questions in following modes were the survey about the Select All That Apply recruited for this survey? following modes? Bus Subway/rapid rail Commuter rail Light rail Auto Survey did not address mode issues Other, please specify: 8) How were respondents recruited for your most recent ? Please select all that apply. In person recruit via intercept at stations and/or stops ___ In person recruit via intercept on board transit vehicles ___ Telephone recruit ___ Intercept at public locations other than transit-related ___

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53 E-mail recruit ___ Mail recruit ___ In person recruit via intercept on roadways, rest stops, intersections, or toll plazas (if selected auto in Question 7) ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 9) How was sampling conducted for your most recent ? No sampling, the whole population was surveyed (i.e., every bus trip during the course of the day was sampled and every transit rider was asked to take the survey on those buses). _____ Random sampling was conducted. ___ Systematic sampling was conducted (i.e., sampling every nth customer). ___ Convenience sampling was conducted (i.e., sampling anyone who could easily participate in the study). ___ Other sampling was conducted. Please specify: ____________________________________ 10) Were any incentives provided to respondents for your most recent ? No incentives Yes, a lottery was conducted and prizes were: _____________________________________ Yes, each respondent received an incentive of: ____________________________________ Other, please specify: ________________________________________________________ 11) (If incentives provided) How effective were incentives for your most recent ? Incentives increased our response rate 1­25% ___ Incentives increased our response rate 25­50% ___ Incentives increased our response rate 50­75% ___ Incentives increased our response rate more than 75% ___ Incentives don't help ___ I don't know ___ 12) How was your most recent administered? Please select all that apply. Telephone ___ Paper (e.g., in-person, hand out, by mail, etc.) ___ Computer-based, but not on Interent (e.g., in-person or via disk-by-mail) ___ Online web survey ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________

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54 13) What was the response rate of your most recent ? What was the response rate? % Don't know Open end Please describe how the response rate was calculated or why it could not be calculated 14) Please rate the data set that resulted from your most recent . Strongly Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Disagree The survey data set was "clean" (free of internal inconsistencies and miscoded responses) Most respondents who completed the survey did so with nearly every question answered 15) Did you weight the data for your most recent administered? If yes, select all that apply. No ___ Yes, based on ridership and/or traffic ___ Yes, based on demographics ___ Yes, based on other factors, please specify: ________________________________________ 16) How successful was your survey? Very successful ___ Somewhat successful ___ Neither successful nor unsuccessful ___ Somewhat unsuccessful ___ Very unsuccessful ___ 17) If Bottom 3 box on success question: Open end Were there any problems or issues with your survey? 18) If used multi-method: Open end Why did you choose to administer using more than one method?

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55 19) Open end How did your organization use the research it conducted on this survey? 20) Who were your most recent survey results presented back to? General public ___ Customers ___ Constitituents ___ Internal clients/management ___ Faculty/staff/students ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ Research results were not presented ___ General Web Survey Debrief 21) (If no web surveys but does conduct other surveys.) Open end Based on your answers so far in Primary reason this survey, it appears that your organization does not conduct web-based surveys. What do you feel are the reasons your organization does NOT conduct web-based surveys? Other reasons 22) (If no web surveys but does conduct other surveys.) How likely do you feel your organization is to begin using web-based customer research within the next two years? Very likely ____ Somewhat likely ____ Neither likely nor unlikely ____ Somewhat unlikely ____ Very unlikely ____ 23) (If conducts web surveys.) Open end What are the reasons your Primary reason organization conducts web-based surveys? Other reasons 24) (If conducts web surveys) Open end What do you think are the Primary disadvantages disadvantages of web-based surveys? Other disadvantages

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56 25) (If conducts web surveys.) Open end What advice would you Primary advice offer other transit or transit- related organizations who are considering web-based customer surveys? Other advice Specific Web Survey Drilldown 26) (If conducts web surveys, select one of the web-based surveys from the first exercise. Ensure a good mix of survey types across respondents.) For the next set of questions, please focus now on that you mentioned earlier was administered via the web . 27) (If conducts web surveys and if consultant from Question 3.) Open end For whom did you conduct the research for your web survey? 28) (If conducts web surveys.) Open end For what region was the Region web survey administered and where was the study located? Study location 29) (If conducts web surveys.) Open-end What were your objectives Primary objective in administering the web survey? Other objectives 30) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) How was the web survey designed? Designed in-house using web page layout software ___ Designed with an online survey development tool (e.g., SurveyMonkey) ___ Contracted out to a consulting or web development firm ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 31) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) How and where was the web survey hosted? Please select all that apply. Hosted on your own organization's computers ___ Hosted with a consulting or web development firm involved in developing the survey ___ Hosted with a web-hosting firm (e.g., Rackspace.com) ___ Hosted with a survey provider (e.g., SurveyMonkey.com) ___

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57 Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 32) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) What technologies were used to create and conduct the web questionnaire? Please select all that apply. ASP ___ ASP.net ___ PHP ___ Perl ___ MS SQL ___ MySQL ___ Oracle ___ MS Access ___ Java ___ JSP ___ Cold Fusion ___ Third party website (e.g., SurveyMonkey) ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 33) (For web survey selected from first exercise and if that survey is not just web-based.) How did the web version of this questionnaire compare with other versions of the questionnaire? Neither Very Similar nor Very Similar Similar Different Different Different Question ordering Question wording Page format Use of skip patterns Other: 34) Please provide the following for just the web portion of this survey: How long was the survey in field? Don't know How many respondents were Don't know invited/recruited? How many surveys were Don't know completed? How many surveys were Don't know incomplete? What percentage of your total Don't know responses were web-based? 35) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) What support, if any, did you provide your web respondents? Select all that apply.

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58 Toll-free number to talk with a support person ___ Support via e-mail ___ Link with FAQs (frequently asked questions) ___ Links with context-specific help directly on the web page ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ None of the above ___ 36) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) Do you follow a certain survey protocol when conducting your customer research? For example, do you use Dillman's Total Design Method or a different protocol? Yes, please explain: __________________________________________________________ No ___ 37) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) How did you invite potential respondents to take the web survey? Select all that apply. E-mail with a live web link ___ E-mail with a web address to paste into a web browser ___ Web link on website ___ Mail piece ___ Telephone call ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 38) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) If known, what percentage of your e-mail invitations was undeliverable for this study? _____% Don't Know ___ 39) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) Did you use online geocoding in the web survey? Yes, the data were coded by latitude and longitude ___ Yes, the data were coded by zip code ___ Yes, the data were coded by county ___ Yes, the data were coded in another manner. Please describe: _________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ No ___ 40) (For any web survey they may have done.) Have you used online geocoding in any other web surveys you have conducted? Yes, please describe: _________________________________________________________ No ___ 41) (If e-mail used.) Open end What, if anything, are you doing to ensure your e-mail invitations are not considered spam?

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59 42) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) Did you remind potential respondents to take your web survey? Yes, please specify the number of reminders: ___ No ___ 43) (For web survey selected from first exercise and if yes to reminders.) What types of reminders did you use? Please select all that apply. E-mail ___ Telephone ___ Mailed pieces ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 44) (For web survey selected from first exercise and if yes to reminders.) Do you know the increase in response rate after each reminder? Yes, ____% increase in response rate due to reminders No, I don't know ___ Other general comments: ______________________________________________________ 45) (For web survey selected from first exercise and if survey was weighted.) You said that you used weighting on your final data set. Please explain how and why you weighted these data. Open end Why used weighting How weighting was done 46) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) How much did this survey cost, in total, to conduct including in-house and third party costs? $ Don't know Total cost In-house costs (FTE or $) Third party costs ($) if applicable 47) (For web survey selected from first exercise.) For the costs above, please indicate those that were part of the study. Select all that apply: Hosting costs Recruitment costs Incentive costs Other costs, please specify: _________________________________________________ 48) If conducts web surveys Open end What do you consider the three Most important best practice most important "best practices" for conducting web-based research? Second most important best practice Third most important best practice

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60 49) If web-based survey and conducts panel studies Open end Please describe your web- based panel study. If known, please discuss your attrition rates, whether you replenished your sample, and anything else you might want to describe about this study. Organization's Web Experience/Knowledge/Willingness 50) Do you know what percent of your customers have Internet access? Yes, ____% of customers have Internet access (both at home and at work) Yes, ____% of customers have Internet access at home Yes, ____% of customers have Internet access at work No, I don't know ___ 51) How else does your organization use the web? Select all that apply. Intranet ___ Website ___ Trip planner ___ E-commerce ___ Internal research (e.g., human resources surveys) ___ Other, please specify: _________________________________________________________ 52) How would you rate your organization on the following topics? (These ratings will not be tied to your organization, but will only be tabulated in general.) Very Good Good Neutral Poor Very Poor Promotes web-based customer research Promotes web/Internet initiatives (other than web-based customer research) Promotes customer research Promotes communication of research results to customers Other Contacts 53) Have you been involved with or benefited from customer web-based surveys that were conducted by other organizations that affect your transit research (e.g., surveys by Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Regional Planning Commissions, sister agencies, Departments of Transportation, etc.)?

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61 Yes ___ No ___ 54) (If yes to Question 53.) Can you provide a brief description of that research, how your agency was involved or benefited, and contact information for someone responsible for that study? Description: ________________________________________________________________ Name: _____________________________________________________________________ Title: ______________________________________________________________________ Organization: _______________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________________________________________ E-mail: ____________________________________________________________________ 55) Was a consultant or some other third party an integral part of any survey research effort you just described in this survey? Yes ___ No ___ 56) (If yes to Question 55.) Can you provide the contact information for the person/organization who/that helped you with your research so that we can see if they would also like to be part of this study? Role played by this person on your research: Name: _____________________________________________________________________ Title: ______________________________________________________________________ Organization: _______________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________________________________________ E-mail: ____________________________________________________________________ 57) Thank you for your input on this survey. We may want to follow up with you on some of the issues presented in the survey. May we please have your full and up-to-date contact information? Name: _____________________________________________________________________ Title: ______________________________________________________________________ Organization: _______________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________________________________________ E-mail: ____________________________________________________________________ 58) If you have any reports from your web survey work described here (or other web surveys that were not asked about), please e-mail: tcrpwebsynth@surveycafe.com with the report or the report description. This concludes our survey. Thank you very much for participating.