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Assessing the effects of a mixed-mode design in a longitudinal household travel survey

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Abstract

The German Mobility Panel (MOP) is a national household travel survey, which has been collecting data on travel behavior in Germany since 1994. One of the MOP’s central assets is its ability to provide time-series data on travel behavior. Thus, the comparability of survey results from different years is a major objective of the survey method used. Declining survey participation rates in the last decade in various socio-demographic groups resulted in the implementation of a mixed-mode design for the MOP in 2013, both for the sampling stage (landline and mobile phone recruitment) and the data collection stage (paper and web). In this study, we analyze whether the adaptations in the survey mode do indeed improve the results and, if so, why and to what degree. Ideally, the survey mode adaptions have increased the representativeness of the MOP. However, measurement biases due to the mixed-mode design are also conceivable. To decompose survey mode effects, we applied the propensity score weighting method. This method imputes the hypothetical responses participants would have given in different survey modes; disparities between actual responses and hypothetical responses under another mode are then traced back to the mixed-mode design. Our analysis indicates that trip-rate biases on shopping, leisure, and short trips are partly caused by the mixed-mode design; in contrast, quantities of time spent in the transportation system, trips made by car and public transportation, and commuting trips are hardly biased.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable comments provided by three anonymous referees and by the associate editor (Patricia L. Mokhtarian). This paper presents analyses of the German Mobility Panel funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the 96th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Transport Studies, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Christine Eisenmann, Bastian Chlond, Clotilde Minster & Peter Vortisch

  2. KANTAR TNS Germany, Landsberger Strasse 284, 80687, Munich, Germany

    Christian Jödden

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  1. Christine Eisenmann
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  2. Bastian Chlond
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  3. Clotilde Minster
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  4. Christian Jödden
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  5. Peter Vortisch
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Correspondence to Christine Eisenmann.

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Eisenmann, C., Chlond, B., Minster, C. et al. Assessing the effects of a mixed-mode design in a longitudinal household travel survey. Transportation 46, 1737–1753 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9879-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9879-2

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