Researchers heard you loud and clear. Commuters and employers entrusted the research team with more than 7,500 responses.
Commuters provided 7,249 complete and 1,196 usable partial responses – a total of 8,435. A commuter’s survey response was usable if the respondent completed questions about their current commute (location, roadways, mode choice) and the follow-up questions for their mode choices. The follow-up questions were considered the “usable threshold” questions as they were the first questions where respondents shared their opinions about commuting. Researchers needed to understand some of the motivation and opinions of each respondent so as to understand how the region may adapt incentives and services to make alternative commuting modes more attractive and practical.
Employer representatives provided 213 complete and 20 usable partial responses – a total of 233. An employer representative response was usable if the respondent shared their contact information, company information, and current practice relative employee commutes. About 800 (78 percent) of respondents that clicked on the link to respond on behalf of their employer did not complete the contact information questions on the first page. Researchers assume this is primarily due to the respondent realizing they were not able or willing to speak on behalf of their employer and so instead chose to discontinue the survey; researchers are also aware that this may indicate a need to refine the language of the survey invitation if the survey is conducted again in the future.
The survey was organized into pages containing one or more questions. Researchers used extensive logical functions to shorten and keep the survey relevant to each particular respondent based on their previous answers. The survey took an average of about 18 minutes to complete – a long survey indeed. However, researchers evaluated the performance of the survey instrument. View a Falloff Report illustrating the survey’s function based on when partial respondents chose to discontinue (no single page posed a special challenge to respondents). In a nutshell, although long the survey was easy enough to take and respondents motivated enough to finish.