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ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS ABOUT TELECOMMUTING: AVOIDING PITFALLS IN SURVEYING HOMEBASED WORK

In designing travel behavior surveys, the issue is to define "work," "home," and other similar words that are commonly used in language but which have acquired a plethora of associated meanings. The difficulty has not been resolved by the many new terms coined to describe non-traditional ways to work. Such words as "telecommuting" or "teleworking" lack any agreed-upon definitions yet they are used in common parlance as if they did. These new workstyles are of interest to travel planners because they may involve trip reduction. To forecast just how much trip reduction will occur, behavior needs to be measured by objective criteria. To avoid definitional traps, the author recommends phrasing questions in terms of measurable variables such as the place of work and the time in days and hours spent at each location. This approach leaves researchers the option of applying their own definitions that fit the context of their analyses. Information gathered over years can be used unambiguously in various contexts and definitions can be applied at the point of analysis. This paper illustrates errors and confusion that can arise from casually worded surveys using examples from private and public surveys. The author proposes a set of core questions with 4 levels of priority for consideration in designing future surveys of travel behavior.

  • Availability:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Special Issue: Travel Behavior Research
  • Corporate Authors:

    Kluwer Academic Publishers

    P.O. Box 17
    Dordrecht,   Netherlands 
  • Authors:
    • Pratt, J H
  • Publication Date: 2000-2

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 99-116
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00792550
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 6 2000 12:00AM