Technical Appendix to NCHRP Report 571: Standardized Procedures for Personal Travel Surveys (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 8-44
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2 CHAPTER 2 2. Literature Review Results 2.1 REVIEW OF THE STATE OF PRACTICE 2.1.1 Introduction There has been a tendency for metropolitan areas to concentrate their survey efforts around each turn of a decade, respecting the wishes of the U.S.
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3 Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan region. Data were collected from 28 counties, and the study was conducted by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC)
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4 The survey was conducted between April 1996 and April 1997. The survey used the telephone to recruit participants.
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5 The Travel Log survey period for the Broward Survey was scheduled for the fourth and fifth weeks of March 1996. The Department required the travel log portion of the survey to be completed prior to the end of the "peak season" thereby requiring the survey logs to be completed by the end of March 1996.
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6 developing planning tools for the surface transportation facilities for the three-county region of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. The survey was designed to allow state and local government planners to understand when, where, how, and why people travel.
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7 A survey package was developed that requested information on household characteristics and income (Household Verification Survey) , the daily trip making events (Travel Logs)
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8 reported. To provide an idea of the variations that were used in these surveys, Table 2 provides an overview of some of the categories.
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9 to retrieve data from a recruited household, one specified three attempts, while two others specified six attempts. Six of the twelve surveys specified that data were to be collected from all household members, regardless of age.
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10 weighting to correct for various biases in the sampling plan, and corrected for the presence of multiple telephone lines in some households and shared lines in others. Weighting was also applied to correct for nonresponse bias on the basis of household size, household income, number of vehicles owned, and age.
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11 Retrospective 5% Instrument Type Trip Diary 76% Activity Diary 19% Other/Unspecified 5% Instrument Format – Trip Diaries Sheet 86% Booklet 14% Instrument Format – Activity Diaries Sheet 10% Booklet 90% Design of Data-Collection Procedures The most important elements of this are timing, incentives, reminders, and response rates. Timing of surveys has traditionally been in the Spring or Fall, with the desire to produce an "average" travel day.
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12 influence on the recruitment rate, with the rate averaging 58.3 percent for mail-back surveys, and 45.7 percent for telephone retrieval of the data. Table 7: Profile of Reminders in Recent Surveys Aspect of Reminders Proportion Reporting Using Reminders Yes 80% No 20% Form of Reminders Telephone Call 93% Letter 7% Number of Reminders Used One 60% Two to Three 20% Four or More 20% Form of Multiple Reminders Telephone only 75% Telephone and Postcards 10% Telephone and Letter 8% Telephone, Letter, and Postcard 8% Planned Contacts One Contact (no reminders)
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13 Pilot Surveys and Pretests As noted in the NCHRP Synthesis 236, the terms pilot test and pretest tend to be used interchangeably by the transportation profession, even though the survey research literature distinguishes these two activities. In this section, we use the term pilot test to cover either a true pilot test or pretesting.
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14 coders look up addresses, locate them on a map, and provide the appropriate geocodes. Fifty-five percent reported the use of a combination of computer and manual geocoding, with the manual element usually being for those addresses that the computer could not recognize.
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15 The second issue here is correction of data. Approximately 20 percent of recent surveys took the position that the data retrieved was noncorrectable.
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16 MPOs have been at the forefront of revising and expanding both the nature and scope of household travel surveys." (Scan of Recent Travel Surveys, TMIP, 1996a Page 21) In NCHRP Synthesis 236, there were 55 surveys that were included.
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17 Table 10: Summary of Scan of Recent Surveys Urban Area Size Urban Area Sample Size Sampling Method Recruitment Method Min. Age Bike/Wal k Trips Retrieval Method Diaries Returned Type of Diary Pilot Test Coding Method Data Repair Timing Resp Rate Incentives Atlanta 2,400 phone Phone No Trip (1-day)
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18 Urban Area Size Urban Area Sample Size Sampling Method Recruitment Method Min. Age Bike/Wal k Trips Retrieval Method Diaries Returned Type of Diary Pilot Test Coding Method Data Repair Timing Resp Rate Incentives prizes Albuquerque 2,000 Stratified phone Yes Mail Yes Trip (1-day)
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19 Design of Survey Instruments From Table 10, the only aspect of survey instrument design reported on is the type of diary. In 33 cases out of the 55 (60 percent)
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20 Survey Implementation No aspects of implementation were reported in the Scan. Data Coding including Geocoding This is an area that was not consistently reported in the Scan.
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21 H3 Type of building Detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat; private, subsidized by privately owned, public sector controlled, public sector operated H4 Tenure H5 Duration of residence H6 Duration of ownership H7 Age of mortgage H8 Number of members H9 Number of visitors H10 Relationships Matrix of relationships between all members of the household, plus an indication of the persons visited by visitors H11 Parking spaces Number, kind, location, and cost of the parking spaces owned or rented by household members H12 Communications Inventory of the media available (number and type) to the household (daily newspapers, telephones, pagers, television, teletext, ...)
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22 V6 Year of Acquisition O V7 Replacement Status O Indication if vehicle replaced an earlier one or was an additional purchase V8 Fuel O Type of fuel used V9 Motor O Indication of motor size: cc, number of cylinders, power V10 Weight O V11 Converter O Presence of catalytic converter V12 Current kilometrage O Odometer reading at the start of the survey period V13 Kilometrage O Odometer reading at the end of the survey period V14 VKT O VKT during the last year V15 Check up O Date of last inspection of the motor V16 Information sources O Types of information sources attached to the vehicle (radio, RDS-TMC, telephone, route guidance systems, etc. V17 Owner ODU Reference to household member or outside institution V18 Responsible O Reference to legally responsible household member V19 Users O List of users among the household members and their level of use V20 Fixed costs O Distribution of fixed costs between different persons and institutions involved; may be broken down by further categories V21 Variable costs ODU Distribution of variable costs between different persons and institutions involved; may be broken down by further categories V22 Home location O Indication of where the vehicle was located during the last week/month V23 Parking O Which, if any, of the household parking spaces is allocated to this vehicle for overnight parking O Vehicles owned by household members D Vehicles driven, but not owned by household members (associated with person form)
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23 M11 Parking ST Type, legality, and location/distance to destination; total cost and share of respondent; cross-reference to employer parking or parking space at home M12 Company ST Size of company and breakdown by household and non-household members M13 Situational handicap ST Type of situational handicap M14 Parallel activity ST Type of parallel activity engaged in during travel (reading, working, phoning, etc.) M15 Availability TJ Cross reference to all household vehicles/season tickets available for the duration of the trip/journey including ensuing activity M16 Information sources ST Type of information sources available during the movement M17 Information used ST Type of information sources used during the movement and usage cost S Applicable at stage level T Applicable at trip level J Applicable at journey level Table 16: Suggested Items for a Comprehensive Travel Diary: Activities (Axhausen, 1995)
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24 • Coverage of the broadest possible time period: e.g., 24 hours of the day, seven days of the week, and even possibly all seasons of the year (365 days) ; • Collection of data from all members of the household; • High quality data that is robust enough to be used even at a disaggregate level; and • An integrated data collection system incorporating household interviews as well as origindestination data from other sources such as screenlines and cordon surveys." These points suggest some of the important elements that should also be included in any effort to standardize household travel surveys.
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25 phone connected to personal databases and a universe of information. In effect, the tools necessary for work are transferred from the office to the worker.
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26 units measured – in this survey, "days per month" and "during normal business hours" – the numbers of "telecommuters" in 1999 can be reported as follows: Classic telecommuting as understood by employers, is allowing some employees to work at home one or two days per week. As of 1999, 19.6 million employees and independent contractors, or ten percent of U.S.
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27 Education X X X X X X X Occupation X X X X 1 X Industry X X X X X Surveys, in order listed are: American Housing Survey (AHS) , Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO)
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28 METROPOLITAN AREA SURVEYS. Several regional surveys have included work-at-home as a topic.
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29 Figure 2: 1996 Dallas-Fort Worth Household Activity Survey 24-Hour Diary THE 1995 OHIO-KENTUCKY-INDIANA (OKI)
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30 Figure 3: 1994 Activity and Travel Survey Oregon and SW Washington THE 1997-8 RESEARCH TRIANGLE HOME INTERVIEW STUDY. The Research Triangle CATI interviews did not differentiate whether or not work at home was "paid." As the respondent filled each time slot by checking "meals," "shop," "work," or by writing in an activity, he or she was asked "Where did PERSON/you do that?
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31 expected, travel patterns vary as behavioral change follows technology innovation, a number of factors must be considered in any attempt to standardize the measurement of mobile workers. They include, for example: • Identification of where the individual is in time and space.
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32 procedures, on the other hand, are stipulated methods of conducting an activity. By fixing a process, ambiguity is reduced, standards are indirectly achieved, and assessment is promoted by clarity of concept and the opportunity to compare values from different sources.
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33 time. These include relevance, timeliness, and accessibility.
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34 age of 14 to participate, and, if e-mail is used, that respondents who have indicated that they do not want to be re-contacted, be omitted from any further communication. Good Practices The general standards and ethics of the previous paragraph describe the general approach that must be adopted by survey research companies when conducting travel surveys.
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35 In providing guidance on establishing a problem definition, they describe the necessity of obtaining background information on the need and use of the data to be collected, of establishing objectives with the client, and determining topics to be covered in the survey. The sample design includes definition of the population to be sampled, determining the sample frame, sample size, and weighting, and providing a full description of the procedure to be followed in conducting the survey including call-back and replacement procedures if any.
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36 • The organization must be customer-focused. That is, it must understand the customer's needs, meet the customer's requirements, and strive to exceed the customer's expectations.
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37 vehicles not owned by the household, but available for their full-time use, or vehicles owned by the household, but not in operating condition, should be included in the total number of vehicles or not. A particular difficulty is incorporating new behaviors that impact travel such as work at home and Internet shopping.
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38 table range from 1 for the social grade described as "well-educated top managers and professionals" to 8 for the social grade described as "less well educated skilled and unskilled manual workers, small business owners, and farmers/fishermen." A similar classification into eight social grades is established for households without a worker using economic status in place of occupation category. Table 18: Eight Social Grade Categories Occupation Category Terminal Education Age of Main Income Worker 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 21+ 1 2 3 17-20 1 2 3 4 5 15-16 2 3 4 5 6 14 3 5 6 13 or less 5 7 8 8 Source: Adapted from ESOMAR (1997)
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