IDENTIFYING AND DETERRING SOFT REFUSAL IN TRAVEL SURVEYS: A PILOT STUDY ON WEEKEND TRIPS BY YOUNGER GENERATIONS

Abstract

 Recent household travel surveys in Japan reported a declining percentage of mobile persons, especially among younger generations, and the reason should be carefully examined. In this study, we investigated the impact of different survey methods on the reporting of young people’s trips on weekends. Data from various surveys, including the nationwide person trip survey and the survey on time use and leisure activities, were used for the examination. Additionally, we conducted a web-based survey on weekend trips by university students to explore the effect of survey formats. The results indicated that the format requiring the record of the detailed trip information is more susceptible to soft refusal than the format asking whether individuals go out or not, especially among males. The results also suggested that asking for recording step counting could reduce the soft refusals.