Guidebook for Conducting Airport User Surveys (2009) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 45-72
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From page 45... ...
When the characteristics of the target population change throughout the year, as they generally do for air passengers, there is no way to know whether a survey performed over a fairly short period will provide a reasonable representation of average annual conditions. If information on average annual conditions is desired, it will be necessary to perform the survey over a number of different periods throughout the year to account for seasonal variations.
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From page 46... ...
In some cases, detailed data on the size or characteristics of the population may not be readily available. For example, an airport authority may not have traffic counts on the terminal roadways or may have no information on the number of air parties arriving at the airport by shared-ride van or using off-airport parking.
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From page 47... ...
Counts of vehicle trips may be available from AVI systems or trip fees paid by the operators, but these counts will not necessarily correspond to air passenger use, because of variation in air party size, more than one air party in a vehicle, and vehicles traveling to or from the airport without passengers (deadheading)
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From page 48... ...
The sampling plan to be used is very dependent on the survey type being conducted and is covered in the chapter for each survey type (for example, see Section 5.3 for surveys of air passengers)
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From page 49... ...
The text has to be large enough for respondents to read and the form has to provide enough space to write in the answers. 4.3.2 Response Options Survey questions fall into three broad types, based on the response options: • Numerical, in which respondents provide a numerical value, which could include dates and times.
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From page 50... ...
Also, because they present the respondent with a predefined set of possible responses, they encourage the use of standardized terminology, yet may also trigger a response that would not otherwise have been mentioned. While this is true for self-completed questionnaires, there is a potential disconnect with interview surveys, where the respondent does not see all the options and the interviewer assigns the response provided to one of the defined categories.
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From page 51... ...
• A more subtle but equally important consideration is to introduce requests for information in a logical sequence. Asking survey respondents the type of place from which they began their trip to the airport gets them thinking about where they started their trip and leads naturally to questions about the location of that trip origin, such as the city or zip code.
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From page 52... ...
If this falls within the anticipated confidence interval for the survey as a whole, as discussed in Section 3.2, it may not be worth incurring the cost of the translations in order to include these users in the survey. However, even in this situation there may be other reasons for including non-English-speaking airport users in the survey, such as gathering information about foreign tourists.
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From page 53... ...
4.5 Survey Logistics 4.5.1 The Importance of Logistics Both the survey quality and the physical well-being and mental attitude of the survey team will be directly affected, positively or negatively, by the amount of thought given to logistics. One of the principal challenges with air passenger surveys is that they are conducted in the physical environment of the airport terminal.
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From page 54... ...
4.5.3 Other Logistical Considerations Field Office Space Survey teams that do not plan for adequate, appropriately equipped, and accessible field office space are likely to see the quality of their work and results suffer as a result. The first consideration is where the space should be located: before or after security screening.
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From page 55... ...
In the cold or rain, provision needs to be made for shelter and possibly for extra breaks to "thaw out." Material and Equipment Appendix C provides a checklist of supplies and equipment that will be required for the typical air passenger survey. This list can be adjusted to meet each survey's needs and circumstances.
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From page 56... ...
This section therefore focuses on training intercept interviewers. Training is not an area in which the survey team should be looking for cost savings.
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From page 57... ...
Survey Design 57 Having spent some time on "what's in it for the survey sponsor," the next part of the training should be devoted to "what's in it for the interviewers." People are always eager to learn about such basics as work hours and days, shifts, pay rates, and the like. Once they know what they are going to get out of participating in the survey, they will be more likely to pay close attention to what follows.
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From page 58... ...
58 Guidebook for Conducting Airport User Surveys It may then be necessary to take corrective action, either by coaching an interviewer who missed something during training or by retraining the entire group if the trainer failed to convey a point well enough. The survey planning team would be wise to budget for both of these occurrences, particularly if the questionnaires or procedures are complicated or difficult.
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From page 59... ...
The pilot test results should be compared to the expected number of responses from the sampling plan. This comparison may require collecting data on the potential number of respondents, such as the number of passengers on flights surveyed in airline gate lounges.
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From page 60... ...
4.8 Maximizing Response Rates The willingness of potential survey respondents to participate in an airport user survey varies with the survey method and type of survey. Air passengers are generally cooperative, if they have the time.
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From page 61... ...
The questionnaire should include a serial number, or other information identifying the day and flight number, and this information should be recorded so that the numbers of mail-back surveys handed out and returned can be tracked and appropriate weights can be assigned. Telephone Surveys Telephone surveys are in many ways more difficult than intercept interview surveys.
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From page 62... ...
Translations must be of excellent quality to maintain the meaning of each question and response option. Where only a small proportion of the local population cannot communicate effectively in English, the need for multilingual interviewers becomes less clear.
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From page 63... ...
These devices have a number of distinct advantages over printed forms, as discussed in the following subsection, but also raise several issues that need to be carefully considered. 4.9.1 Advantages and Disadvantages One of the most obvious advantages of using EDCDs is the elimination of the data entry task and the associated potential for errors to be introduced in the data.
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From page 64... ...
Also, with paper forms the questionnaire may appear very long to the respondent and adversely affect the response rate, but the length of the survey is not evident to the respondent when using EDCDs. However, for this reason it is generally advisable to inform respondents of the likely time required to complete the survey.
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From page 65... ...
Consideration should also be given to the need for staff to hold the units for extended periods of time while standing; therefore, compactness and light weight are distinct advantages. On the other hand, a small screen limits the font size and the number of response options that can be displayed on one screen, while a compact keypad is more awkward to use and more likely to lead to mistyping.
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From page 66... ...
? • Can the software display response options based on the first few characters entered (e.g., suggesting city names based on the first two or three letters)
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From page 67... ...
• Questions with a large number of categorical response options. • A large sample size (resulting in high data entry costs)
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From page 68... ...
Data entry involves transferring the survey response data from the survey forms to a computer file using the numeric codes shown on the survey form or developed later and defined in a survey codebook. Two methods may be considered: • Manual data entry, using survey staff (or others)
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From page 69... ...
of a respondent's home, the easier it is to identify and correct any errors. "Self-completed Surveys" in Section 5.2.2 includes a discussion on the verification of air party size that may be helpful in understanding what can be involved in the data verification and cleaning process.
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From page 70... ...
The analysis may utilize either of these weight factors depending on the focus of the results, passenger versus vehicle. Depending on the available data, these census counts might include the following: • Air passenger counts, possibly by hour or by day.
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From page 71... ...
requirements of the survey project. A presentation on the results of the survey, which addresses the purpose of the survey and explains what was obtained for the funds approved, will close the loop with senior management.
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From page 72... ...
For an air passenger survey with several thousand respondents being performed for the first time, the planning stage could require as much as 20% of the overall budget and should commence at least six months before the planned data collection. The time required is considerable, but the quality of the resulting information will depend on the effort devoted to sound planning.
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