Best Practices Met Council Household Travel Survey (HTS) 2010-2012

1. Best Practices Met Council Household Travel Survey (HTS)2010-2012 May 8. 2013

2. The HTS was Part of a Total Travel Behavior Inventory with Cambridge Systematics as Prime Authors: Jason Minser, Abt SRBI Laurie Wargelin, Abt SRBI Jonathan Ehrlich, Metropolitan Council Anurag Komanduri, Cambridge Systematics Kimon Proussaloglou, Cambridge Systematics Cemal Ayvalik, Cambridge Systematics . Metropolitan Council Household Travel Survey: Design, Implementation, and Lessons Learned 14th TRB Planning Applications Conference 5-9 May 2013 Columbus, OH

3. Household Travel Survey (HTS) Overview • 19-counties in Minnesota (16) and Wisconsin (3) • Address-based sampling approach – three tiered stratification plan • Comprehensive inventory of . . . • 12,000 households’ 24-hour travel for persons 6 years of age and older • Subsample of 250 GPS households • Special subgroups • MnPass users • University students

4. Why Address-Based Sampling (ABS)? Includes cell-phone only households Supplemental cell phone data collection is expensive with low response rates – not geographically based With ABS geographically based sample can be pulled and weighted by census tract Duel frame sampling (ABS/RDD) is difficult to weight Weighting is not the solution to unrepresentative samples – only builds in the bias.

5. ABS Allows Targeting by HH Type As random, proportional data collection proceeds to 60-75% of recruitments, results are monitored and examined on a weekly basis Since ABS is census tract/block based – at this point - oversamples can be ordered for tracts/blocks with high incidence rates for under-represented variables of interest—i.e. those with H2R household characteristics Examples (Zero-vehicle HHs, 4+ person HHS) Implementation can be targeted by geographic area This approach is called Responsive Interviewing Design (Groves and Herringa )

6. Highly Stratified ABS Sampling Plan • ABS improves the ability to define geographic strata • 7 distinct regions sampled at differential rates • Stratified by household size and total number of vehicles

7. Imbedded Design for Hard – to – Reach Populations • Clearly define populations • But not every group can be hard to reach or treated as such • Identify appropriate levers; not all levers work for each group • Use post-collection techniques sparingly (e.g., weighting)

8. Design Qualities of 2010-11 Minnesota HTS • Advance letters tailored to region and sponsorship emphasized • Recruitment by phone (matched) and web (unmatched) • Personalized activity-based travel diary • Reminder calls made evening before scheduled travel day (weekdays only) • Contingent incentive offered in follow-up for specific sub-groups ($20) • Follow-up by phone, web, and mail

9. GPS Subsample ABS Unmatched Matched Web Recruit Phone Recruit Travel Packet Deployment 7-day Travel Period Travel Packet Returned Diary and GPS Device Validation Incomplete HH Completed HH • 250 Total Completed Households • Data collection consistent with main study • 7-day travel period • One day diary • Diary date randomly assigned within 7-day period • Pilot study conducted • Incentive experiment conducted • Full GPS/diary comparison conducted by PlanTrans, Inc.

10. Study Compliance and Participation • Thirteen percent of households recruited by web • Parity between web and mail-back of retrievals • Phone becoming less of a retrieval method • Method consistent with multi-method scenario

11. Design Strategies to Overcome Low Responding Markets Sampling Unmatched/Cell only Customized Letters Phone and Web Targeted Sampling Recruitment 4+ HH 0-vehicle Low Income University Incentives Phone or Web Reminder Letters Targeted Sample Retrieval Phone, Web, Mail Reminder Calls Reassignment Incentives Non-Responders • Sampling geographic strata requires close and continual monitoring • Tailored strategies are crucial throughout the process to overcome low responding markets

12. Recruitment at 60% Complete

13. Retrieval at 30% Complete

14. Strategies for Corrections at this Point • Incentives for under-represented cells going forward: $20 for 0-Vehicle and 4+ Person Households.Added incentives for all hhs. with incomes <$25,000. • Additional incentives: -- Reassignment: $20 offered to recruited hhs. in under- represented cells--that did not complete. Assigned a new travel day. Refusal Conversion -- $25 to University Oversample -- $10 to GPS households that had not returned units. • Increased reminder calls to under-represented cells • Introduced targeted sample by census tract geography for under-represented cells

15. Results of Corrective Actions on Final Retrieval

16. Geographic Representativeness

17. Demographic Representativeness

18. Best Practices and Lessons Learned

19. Best Practices for a Representative HTS ABS allows inclusion of cell-only households and improves geographic targeting by key variables Establish legitimacy of sponsor – advance letters/postcards/website Continual monitoring as random data collection proceeds as designed. Continual interval data review/editing and reporting -- so that hhs. not meeting quality standards can be replaced as data collection proceeds Implementation of corrective actions at approximately the two-thirds recruitment point Results in a representative sample that can be weighted with bias minimized.

20. Contact Information Laurie Wargelin Abt SRBI l.wargelin@srbi.com