Measuring Personal Travel and Goods Movement A Review of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics' Surveys -- Special Report 277 (2003) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Recommendations
4 Recommendations
Pages 41-53
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 41... ...
The eighth recom mendation addresses the Omnibus Survey Program.1 FLAGSHIP PERSONAL TRAVEL AND FREIGHT SURVEYS Recommendation 1: BTS should continue to conduct and enhance the NHTS and the CFS, its flagship surveys on personal travel and goods movement in the United States. Given the broad scope of BTS's mandate and inevitable resource con straints on its programs, the committee urges the agency to adopt a strategy for enhancing the NHTS, CFS, and successor surveys that max imizes the value of the data for users at national, regional, state, and local levels.
|
From page 42... ...
In particular, dialogue with users could address opportunities to coordinate data collection initiatives in an effort to obtain consistent and comparable local, state, and national data. In developing and enhancing its flagship surveys, BTS will need to take account of user demands for both data consistency to support survey-to-survey trend analysis and expanded survey coverage to include evolving phenomena such as e-commerce.
|
From page 43... ...
The committee urges BTS to develop outreach and interaction pro cesses that facilitate open, accessible, responsive, and timely communi cation between the agency and current and potential users of its personal travel and freight surveys. A variety of processes will likely be required because these users are so diverse.
|
From page 44... ...
Similarly, the ASA Committee on Law and Justice Statistics helps disseminate information about legal and justice statistics activities throughout the statistics community, and promotes the development of quality statistical activities in civil and criminal justice settings. A number of TRB standing committees, such as the Freight Transportation Data Committee, the Travel Survey Methods Committee, and the National Transportation Data Requirements and Programs Committee, could assist BTS in assessing the data needs of users, obtaining feedback on survey products, and providing a forum for discussing survey methods.
|
From page 45... ...
Recommendation 4: BTS should establish institutional procedures and long-term financial plans that help ensure the stability and qual ity of its flagship personal travel and freight surveys. The establishment of BTS by the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transporta tion Efficiency Act resulted in the agency's assuming important respon sibilities for the flagship national transportation surveys (the NHTS and CFS)
|
From page 46... ...
The committee urges BTS to recognize its flagship personal travel and freight surveys as core elements of its portfolio of programs and to manage its resources accordingly. Analysis of the costs of earlier surveys can provide BTS and its survey partners with a basis for developing rea sonable cost estimates for future surveys.
|
From page 47... ...
BTS's data-gathering, analysis, and dissemination activities require not only expertise in statistics and survey methodology but also an under standing of the socioeconomic context of passenger and freight move ments; the supply, costs, and performance of transportation services; and all the modes providing these movements. A balance of statistical and transportation expertise is needed to guide the development of useful data products appropriate to a federal statistical agency.
|
From page 48... ...
Re cent FCSM statistical policy working papers and seminars have ad dressed topics relevant to BTS's flagship surveys, including measuring and reporting on sources of error in surveys and interagency coordina tion and cooperation. The committee encourages BTS to focus its own research program on · Solving its particular survey problems, such as declining response rates in household travel surveys; and · Investigating how recent developments in data collection methods and advanced statistical techniques can benefit transportation sur veys.
|
From page 49... ...
2001, 33) , "the his tory of the statistical agencies has shown repeatedly that methodological research can lead to large productivity gains in statistical activities at rel atively low cost." The committee identified five main topics within the broad area of survey methodology in which applied research could par ticularly benefit the quality and usefulness of future surveys.4 · Response rates for household travel surveys.
|
From page 50... ...
In particular, tech nological innovation and development may provide opportunities for new, more effective and efficient approaches. Web-based methods, such as electronic data collection forms with automated editing sys tems and Internet-based travel diaries, have shown promise and merit further investigation, probably as part of mixed-mode data collection initiatives that reach different respondents in different ways.
|
From page 51... ...
OMNIBUS SURVEY PROGRAM Recommendation 8: BTS should establish a process for conducting the Omnibus surveys that ensures the agency's credibility as an indepen dent provider of statistical information. The committee urges BTS to place greater emphasis on establishing a clear separation between statistical information and political policy in the Omnibus program.
|
From page 52... ...
In addition, the committee urges BTS to consider restricting its role in the Omnibus program to technical guidance and conduct of the surveys, leaving to survey sponsors -- MARAD, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and others -- the responsibility for survey content and interpretation. In the committee's view, this approach would be ben eficial in helping BTS establish the clear distinction between statistical in formation and policy interpretation that is vital to the credibility of a federal statistical agency.
|
From page 53... ...
1997. An Overview of Response Rates in the National Household Education Survey: 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1996.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.