An inductive experimental approach to developing a web-based travel survey builder: developing guidelines to design an efficient web-survey platform

The household travel survey (HTS) is the most widely used passenger travel data collection method, and web-based HTS is currently the most dominant survey mode. However, there is a lack of proper understanding on how much the web-based approach can be used without over-burdening respondents. This study investigates methods to improve web-based HTS data quality and to reduce response burdens. It presents the lessons learned from the development and field experiment of a web survey builder. A particular focus is on designing and testing a trip diary interface through usability tests. These tests include a mouse-movement tracking study, mock web-based HTS experiments with responsive designs, and the use of a route planner application programming interface (API). Results show that creating responsive designs for web-surveys based on screen size can significantly increase completion rates and improve the usability. Collecting detailed routes with a route planner API suggesting most likely routes does not significantly increase respondent fatigue. However, it significantly improves data quality. Household size and the age of the survey respondent are significant contributing factors to survey drop-off rates and respondent fatigue. The paper contributes to the literature on household travel surveys by providing evidence-based design guidelines for web-survey interfaces.