01658363

Component

There is an increasing movement towards online travel surveys because of advantages in terms of cost, user burden, and geocoded data. Consequently, it is important to ask how representative online samples are, and how they differ from more traditional paper surveys. This study compares paper and online responses to a 2016, state-wide, Vermont transportation planning survey. Ensuring adequate rural coverage was a primary motivation and thus data assessing Internet and smartphone access was analyzed by residential location as well as by socioeconomic group. The choice of the paper over online survey was linked to lower population density and online respondents showed significant spatial clustering. More importantly, after weighting for basic demographic variables, the travel behavior and transportation attitudes of paper versus online participants differed. At this time, smartphone ownership in Vermont is too skewed to be a primary travel survey method. Internet access is more widespread but does exclude some population segments. The authors recommend caution and consideration of respondents by geographic location as well as socioeconomic characteristics, especially in state-wide surveys.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ40 Standing Committee on Travel Survey Methods.

18-03124

English

21p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Data collection; Evaluation and assessment; Internet; Population density; Print on paper documents; Residential location; Rural areas; Smartphones; Socioeconomic factors; Spatial analysis; Travel surveys

Vermont

Data and Information Technology; Society; Transportation (General)

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-03124

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 10:45AM