Innovative Approaches for an Interactive Stated-Choice Survey

Stated preference surveys provide an excellent source of information for the development and targeted implementation of transport planning measures. This paper describes two innovative methods used in a study of road pricing’s impact on travel behavior in Austria. First, the research used an innovative process to generate realistic route choice alternatives for use in the survey. These alternatives were generated using online resources (e.g. Google Maps) and created alternatives that were familiar to the survey respondents. Second, the research used three different methods for data collection: tablet computer assisted interviews, web assisted interviews and traditional pencil and paper interviews. The use of these different methods helped the researchers obtain a representative sample of the Austrian population. While tablet-assisted interviews appealed to the younger generation, older people were incorporated with the pen-and-paper method. Additionally, via systematic sampling people from “hard-to-reach” groups became accessible. An important benefit of using the tablet-based data collection was that survey participant demographic data was available in real time enabling the survey manager to direct surveyors to target underrepresented groups immediately. The tablet computers also improved data quality and slightly increased willingness to participate in the survey.