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120 Guidebook for Conducting Airport User Surveys
· Employees working in a specific facility or geographical location, such as the passenger termi-
nal, the aircraft apron, or an airline maintenance base.
Confidentiality can be an issue. Employees may be reluctant to provide truthful responses if they
think their responses could be used against them by their employer or the airport. Questions related
to airport performance or communication could raise this concern. If such reluctance is an issue,
the survey should be conducted by a third party with assurances that the individual responses will
not be provided to the airport and results will be presented in aggregate form only. Alternatively,
the survey could be set up so the responses are anonymous.
6.2 Survey Methodology
The choice of survey method is governed by the target employee group and the available infor-
mation on those employees that allows them to be identified, sampled, and contacted. The meth-
ods appropriate for use in employee surveys are either on-site intercept surveys or self-completed
surveys distributed on the basis of lists of employees provided by employers.
For surveys of employees based at the airport, ideally lists of employees should be obtained from
each employer and used to identify the employees to be surveyed. Some employers may not be will-
ing to provide a list of employees but may be willing to distribute the questionnaires themselves. If
neither of these methods is possible, on-site surveys could be used, provided access can be obtained
to work locations or areas where the employees have their breaks.
Surveys of all employees working on airport property--including flight crews, for example--
will need to be conducted as on-site intercept surveys, or include an on-site intercept component.
6.2.1 On-Site Surveys
For on-site intercept surveys, each of the employee groups to be surveyed should be identified
and optimal locations to conduct the surveys should be determined. Employees should not be
surveyed when they are busy with work, and it may be difficult to contact them during breaks or
immediately before or after work. In these situations, self-completed questionnaires that employ-
ees can fill out when not working are the best option. The questionnaires could be distributed to
staff in the break rooms, at the check-in counters or work locations, or while they are seated in
the food courts. Nobody should be approached in a restaurant or cafeteria unless permission has
been obtained from the proprietor beforehand. In some situations, it may be possible to conduct
intercept interviews.
There are various options for collecting self-completed questionnaires. The survey staff could
return later to pick up the questionnaire and could clarify any questions or responses with the
employee at that time. Otherwise, drop boxes could be provided in the employee break rooms or
employer offices, or the forms could be mailed or faxed back.
In terms of logistics, employers at the airport should be notified of the survey and,
where appropriate, access to employee break rooms and provision of drop boxes should be
arranged.
The advantage of using on-site intercept surveys is that it is not necessary to obtain employee
lists, which can be difficult to compile, especially if transient staff--such as airline crews, and shut-
tle bus and other ground transportation drivers--are to be included. The main difficulty with on-
site employee surveys is obtaining a representative sample. However, if the number of employees
in each employee group is known, at least approximately, weightings can be applied in the analy-
sis phase so that the results better match the employee population.
