Citation

Dunphy RT. Transp. Res. Rec. 1979; 701: 26-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In recent years, personal surveys have become increasingly expensive. At the same time, doubt about their reliability has increased. In addition to cost increases, a problem shared by most other service industries, other problems in personal surveys include the increased difficulty of finding adults at home and higher nonresponse rates because of privacy and security problems. The results of two recent travel surveys conducted through employers in the Washington, D.C., area indicate that such a sampling frame may solve many of these problems. With the cooperation of slightly more than 400 employers, 10,000 questionnaires were distributed. The response rate compared quite favorably with that of personal surveys on similar subjects, and the costs were a mere fraction of the cost to conduct such a survey in person. The general applicability of this technique, as well as its potential application for private survey research firms rather than government agencies, is discussed.