ABSTRACT
Non-response in travel behaviour surveys can be usefully structured at more levels than usual in general survey research. 'Non-participation' is the refusal to provide any information about the persons, mobility tools and movements of interest to the researcher. There are multiple tools and approaches used to correct for non-participation and item non-response, depending on whether the non-response is a random or a non-random process. Randomness can not generally be assumed for unit non-response. Seriousness and commitment to the survey are communicated through the survey protocol and survey materials. The response burden is a function of the number of questions, but also the number of movements undertaken and the questions about each movement. A series of self-administered paper-based surveys with vastly different response burdens were conducted over a number of years by the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT) for purposes of basic and applied research.
