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Recent innovations in travel surveys include: A focus on multi-modal data collection The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) data as a replacement for travel reporting These innovative approaches are appealing because of their potential to both lower respondent burden and to collect high quality data from a demographically diverse and representative sample of the population. The Cleveland survey is the second large-scale multi-day GPS-based household travel survey to be conducted in North America, and the design is utilizing these innovations. 2 1 Travel Log Only 281 (11%) Prompted Recall 746 (29%) GPS Only 1,533 (60%) Prompted Recall GPS Only Travel Log Only # of Households recruited 4,753 Total GPS Trips 95,449 # of Persons recruited 10,665 Average # of GPS Trips per person 11.2 # of GPS persons recruited 8,516 Total Distance in GPS Trips (miles) 548,550 Excellent Good Fair Poor I Don't Know 4% 35% 45% 4% 3% I Don't Know Better Worse Same Depends 19% 30% 22% 22% 7% Very Appealing Somewhat Appealing Unappealing 22% 35% 43% GeoStats NOACA OHIO Planning for Greater Cleveland Recruit Travel Overall Burden Cleveland Design Retrieval Demographic Questionnaire Demographic Questionnaire Demographic Questionnaire Demographic Questionnaire Completion of multiple page travel diary GPS for all HH persons/vehicles GPS;Travel log for non-GPS HH members GPS & travel log /memory jogger for all persons Report of all travel details via CATI or CASI Report of all travel details via CATI or CASI Confirmation of GPS trips via CATI/CASI Return of GPS devices and logs High Highest Medium Lowest Not applicable 30% of sample 60% of sample 10% of sample Typical PAPI Dual Method GPS & PR GPS Only Results and Conclusions Early returns are showing that the rate of participation for the GPS Only participants is on par with that seen by the Log only households and exceeds the rate of the Prompted Recall Households. Some preliminary results: Data collection is complete for 2,885 (67%) of the targeted 4,250 households At current rates, it is expected that the number of completed households will reach or exceed the goal. ABOVE: Travel information is being collected from residents of five Northeastern Ohio counties, including Medina, Lorain, Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Lake counties. These five counties represent 2.1 million residents. It is increasingly evident that the provision of multiple modes for participants to complete a travel survey can lead to responses coming from a more representative mix of the population than what a single mode approach would provide. This recognition led survey designers to include the following modes for participation: The inclusion of a large subsample of participants who will not complete a final interview to retrieve trip details is a major element in this survey; 60% of the sample are asked to use and return the GPS devices assigned to each member of the household between 14 and 75 years of age. ABOVE: Proportion of participating households by survey mode. Example Opinion Survey Q1 How would you rate NE Ohio's transportation system (e.g., bus system, roadways, bikeways, walkways, rideshare programs)? Q2 Has this gotten better, worse or stayed about the same over the past 10 years? Q3 How appealing to you personally is the idea of using public transportation instead of driving alone? The table at the left shows the differences in burden based on the design of a survey and compares a typical survey and several componenets which are a part of the Cleveland design. The largest proportion of the Cleveland sample is participating in the lowest burden mode possible. ABOVE: The NOACA website interface. Interested citizens who have not been invited are able to participate by taking an opinion survey Using the Web Effectively Reducing Burden with Multiple Modes The Cleveland GPS-Based Household Travel Survey The Cleveland GPS-Based Household Travel Survey Jeremy Wilhelm, Jean Wolf and Marcelo Oliveira - GeoStats Jeremy Wilhelm, Jean Wolf and Marcelo Oliveira - GeoStats Sponsored by: Conducted by: Background Multi-Modal Design Computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with GPS assisted prompted recall (PR) Web-based computer assisted self interviews (CASI) with GPS assisted prompted recall (PR) GPS Only travel detail reporting Mail-back pen and paper survey (PAPI) Consistent branding and appearance across all components The recruitment survey was reviewed for improving skip logic in order to eliminate excessive or unrelated questions The recruitment survey utilizes the Google Maps API to allow for real time geocoding of habitual and frequently visited locations. The recruitment survey allows participants to provide an email where they can receive confirmation of their completion and reminders of their next steps. The use of TripBuilder Web during the confirmation of travel allows participants to view a list of visited GPS locations which have been matched to known habitual locations. It further allows users to easily correct or modify details about the GPS trip. Additional Details The need to provide a complete, professional, and well designed web survey has become essential with recent research showing that 78% of Americans have internet access (Zickhur & Smith, 2012), and additional research pointing to an increasing decline in the ownership of landline telephones. The website is a resource for participants to learn about the survey and see the progress updated throughout the study period. The site also hosts links to media coverage (web articles, radio programs, and when applicable, videos) giving a sense of the legitimacy of the effort. Cleveland area residents invited to participate in the survey are directed to the public website. Households where the address has a known PA# are given a window of time to allow for them to use the web survey before the first CATI call attempt.
