What is so Special about Surveys Designed to Investigate the Environmental Sustainability of Travel Behaviour?

Abstract

The increasing prominence of environmental sustainability as an objective of transport policy, and in people's thinking about their travel-related decisions, brings new challenges for data collection because, uniquely in the transport sector, it brings three issues to the fore: firstly, the difficulties associated with gathering data and opinions on a topic which is socially and morally charged; secondly, the fact that the resulting adjustments to behaviour may be in dimensions (such as choice of vehicle characteristics and mode choice for infrequent trips) which are not traditionally covered very fully in travel surveys; and thirdly, the likelihood that any change in behaviour may emerge only slowly over an extended period of time (as and when the opportunity arises for the individuals' behaviour to be adjusted to fit their aspirations).

It is argued that, because the topic is socially charged, data on sustainable travel behaviour is particularly prone to social desirability bias and other related biases. The nature and implications of these biases are addressed and it is concluded that individuals will tend to exaggerate the likelihood of behavioural change in response to sustainability concerns and policy initiatives. Methods, which might be used to study the emergence of sustainable patterns of behaviour in general, and responses to sustainability orientated policy initiatives in particular, are discussed and attention is given to ways of minimising bias in the data.

Citation

Bonsall, P. (2009), "What is so Special about Surveys Designed to Investigate the Environmental Sustainability of Travel Behaviour?", Bonnel, P., Lee-Gosselin, M., Zmud, J. and Madre, J.-L. (Ed.) Transport Survey Methods, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 49-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781848558458-003