SURVEY TO ASSESS PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF VALUES CRITICAL TO TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

A survey in a middle-class suburb used an experimental dollar response scale to estimate the relative values as perceived by the public of competing features in a transportation system. The research supported a planning study in which a questionnaire was mailed to heads of housholds in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C. The population surveyed was predominantly middle class, affluent, and well-educated. Objectives of the questionnaire were (a) to determine the relative values that residents assigned to alternative characteristics (advantages, aversive features, impacts, and costs) of planned future transportation options and (b) to predict future user behavior. To measure variables otherwise difficult to compare, the researchers used four item formats that included an experimental item strategy in which the item described an aversive circumstance (waiting in the rain, air pollution) and that asked response scale. The experimental items included noise, air pollution, transfers, waiting, walking, security, crowding, carrying packages, and extended work range. Analysis suggested the item strategy is reliable, gives good resolution and significance, and is effective for measuring the difficult-to-quantify vectors of public opinion. Findings included a strong interest in personal security and an aversion to two transfer trips. Further research is suggested to improve the item format and to test the effectiveness of the strategy with less sophisticated populations. /Author/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/617/617-003.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=SURVEY+TO+ASSESS+PUBLIC+PERCEPTION+OF+VALUES+CRITICAL+TO+TRANSPORTATION+PLANNING&author=R.+Pulliam&author=R.+Pain&author=M.+Shaffer&author=J.+D'Ignazio&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Social, Economic, and Environmental Factors of Transportation. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Pulliam, Robert
  • Pain, Richard F
  • Shaffer, Margaret T
  • D'Ignazio, Janet Letts
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 13-18
• Monograph Title: Social and economic factors in transportation planning
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 617
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Compaction; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Data collection; Forecasting; Public opinion; Questionnaires; Suburbs; Surveys; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163015
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309025966
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 13 1977 12:00AM