Road freight transport survey Questionnaire design · Questionnaire design, Donatella Berna – Roma, 2nd October 2013 1. Questionnaire design: the objectives No hard rules. The first

Road freight transport surveyQuestionnaire design

Target population, Methods, variables

Donatella Berna

Rome, 2nd October 2013

Index1. The objectives

2. The target population

3. The respondents

4. Data required

5. The framework

6. Questionnaire layout

7. Wording

8. Coding

9. Testing the questionnaire

Titolo intervento, nome cognome relatore – Luogo, data

Questionnaire design, Donatella Berna – Roma, 2nd October 2013

1. Questionnaire design: the objectives

No hard rules.

The first step in designing a questionnaire is tofix the objectives

The second step is to plan an adequate preparatory work

The third step is to realize a pilot test analyzing both variablesand wording

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The survey objectives are fixed according to REGULATION (EU) No 70/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

The phenomena to observe are:

• The transport of goods

• The vehicle journeys



2

•The main objectives

• Describe national and international transport

• Show the link between the transport of goods and the vehiclejourneys

• Provide data on type of goods and dangerous goods



3

•Define the target population

• Lorries and road tractorsLoad capacity ≥ 3.5 tonnes

Owners

firms which operate for hire or reward

firms which operate on own account


2. Questionnaire design: the target population

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Investigate the structure of haulage industry

the results show three main categories of the respondents

Owner/operator one lorry

small enterprises two – four lorries

large enterprises large number of road vehicles and manyhauliers


3. The respondents

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3. The respondents

6

In this survey the respondents are:

Lorry drivers

Transport managers

How to contact the respondents?

The method adopted influences both

the questions and the wording of the questionnaire


3. The respondents

How to contact the respondents

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Key factors to assess

Excluded personal and telephone interviews (too long, inadequate, too expensive) it was adopted a paperquestionnaire to bring onto the lorry and fill out at everystage of the journey

The questionnaire is a real logbook


3. The respondents

8

The enterprises receive together with the questionnaire,

-the covering letter,

-the explanatory notes which reports some examples,

-the code list.


4. Data required

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Data on vehicle:Load capacity, maximum permissible weight, n°of axles originate from our vehicle register (administrative data source)

Data on journey:arrival, departure, distance travelled (collected in the questionnaire)

Data on goods:type of goods, quantity, type of cargo (collected in the

questionnaire)Additional data collected

Type of place (departure/arrival)we ask the respondents not only the geographical name of town/city

but also if the loading/unloading operations of the good take place in a port or a railway station or a logistic platform or a storage;this variable is specifically connected to the intermodaltransport and the aim of this collection is to measure the modal shiftto sustainable transport modes.

For lorry drivers the journey iseasy to remember.

The details of loading or unloadingoperations may be also recordedfrom documents of transport so a vehicle model questionnare wasselected.

The strategy adopted was toderive all data related to the goodtrasport operations from vehiclejourneys.


5. The framework

Adoption of a vehicle model questionnaire

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5. The framework

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Adoption of a vehicle model questionnaire

Collect data on the vehicle journey

it is easier for lorry driver to remember the journey

than record all the basic good transport operations

ex: journey 1

20 q “good A” from Rome to Florence unload q10

from Florence to Milan unload q10

basic goods transport operations

n.1 10 q “good A” from Rome to Florence

n.2 10 q “good A” from Rome to Milan


5. The framework

Data on goods (definition adopted)

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Transport is closely related toactivities like trade, industry, agriculture; goods include allcommodities transported, alsowaste with no intrinsic value are considered goods.

The lorry may transport in the samejourney different kind of goods; the problem is how many types of goodhave to be recorded?1. Only relevant goods (accordingto the weight)2. All goods transported

Italy collect data in a measure of three types of goods for eachjourney


5. The framework

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Data on goods


5. The framework

What type of configuration?

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Standard configuration VS real specific configuration foreach journey

A good road transportvehicle may be a road transport vehicle or a

combination of road vehicles

Road tractor and a semitrailer

Lorry with trailer


5. The frameworkThe configuration

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For each journey the configuration of the road vehicle can bedifferent owing to the weight and type of the commodity totransport

In the questionnaire the real configuration is recorded:

load capacity n° of axles

trailer or

semi-trailer if used

trailer or



5. The frameworkHow to collect journey data

What is the best practice to collect the details related to a single journey?First stepthe journey according to the expert is a “structured”one;the journey according to the lorry driver:

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It starts and ends at the headquarters of the entreprise

5. The framework

The questionnaire records the history of all types of journey:

in the first section are included

one stop journeys and multistop journeys;

in the simplified section

collection/delivery journeys

journey repeated many time

The design of a simplified section was necessary to avoid an increase of burden on respondents; for the journeys repeated many time, the journeydetails are entered once and the haulier indicates how many such journeyare repeated during the day.


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5. The framework

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The building blocks:

1. Vehicle model questionnaire

2. Up to three types of goods for each journey

3. Specific configuration of vehicle for each journey

4. All type of journeys are recorded in the questionnaireeven if a simplified section is used to collect data on specific types of journey


6. Questionnaire layout

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The layout of the questionnaire allows the haulier to

report the journeys into two sections:

The first one is devoted to one stop journey and multistopjourney detailed description.

The second one collect data on delivery /collection journey and repeated journey simplified description

Front page: data on enterprisedata on fleet

7. Wording

• A well designed questionnaire has tobe fully understandable;

• The wording has to be specificallystudied to obtain the most complete and accurate information but often the respondents need further assistanceto record the informations so it wasdecided to put in the box of eachvariable a supplementary notes

• for ex:

loading operations(starting point)

goodsloaded

(for codingsee the "a" code list;

ifempty put

0)

dangerousgoods

(for codingsee

the "b" code list)

weightof

goods

(tonnes)

type of cargo(for codingsee the "c" code list)


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7. Wording

• The words may have not the same meaning for all the respondent, so in addition to the instructions and the examples dispatched with the questionnaire, a special support through a toll free number is provided.

A group of contact persons with a specific expertise in the road transportsurvey helps the hauliers to fill out the questionnaire, to code the commodity

to clarify aspects.


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8. Coding

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The road transport survey adopts a logbook; often the hauliers

add some written notes and specifications that may help the editors to

correct variables related to journeys infact

the description of multistop-journey is quite complex:

many point of loading/unloading, different commodities loaded

and unloaded; the collection of these variables present manydifficulties and it is essential to plan adequate strategies to

treat these data.

The first item to consider is related to the structure of the journey with several stages: this theme will be stressed

during the following focus

The second item is related to the coding operations:

;


8. Coding

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What variables can be coded by the respondents?

1. “Goods loaded”- the respondents have to put a code according toNST/2007 classification - 20 groups, however if they found toodifficult this operation they can

-give a written description of the commodity on paper,

-contact the call center where an expert will solve the problems

In the code list provided with the questionnaire, for each group of the classification are reported the name of the well-kown commoditiesincluded.


8. Coding

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2. Dangerous goods this variable has to be coded, butthe respondents can check the risk code in the document of transport or hazardous material label on the lorry

For all variables related to the place of loading/unloading, embarkation/disembarkationthe respondent provides a written description and the coding operation are managedby the survey management system



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12 moths before the start date -having set up the building blocks of the survey-having designed the layout of the questionnaire

It is essential to start with the activities related to the pre-test of the questionnaire like:-the selection of a sample of enterprises-the choice of the sample week-the dispatch of the questionnaire and the explanatory notes

After having received the questionnaire fullfilled it isnecessary to:-Test the layout of the questionnaire-Verify questions unclear-Analyze recurring errors-Assess poor explanatory notes



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A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T

1……

2………

3……...

……….

……….

……….

……

……

……

……..

……..

……..

1.

2.

3.

……….

……….

……….

1……

2………

3……...

……….

……….

……….

……

……..

……..

1.

2.

3.

…….

……….

……….

place of disembarkation

town and province

ortown and

foreigh country

transit between the place of

departure and the arrival

good unloaded

tonnes (if emptyput 0)

between the place of


ship=1train=2

place of embarkation town and province

ortown and

foreigh country

type of cargo for coding use the "c" code list

town and province

ortown and

foreigh country

"d "code list goods on board;

mark the number for

each consignment

"d "code list goods loaded

for coding use the "a" code list(if empty put 0)

dangerous good

for coding use the "b" code list(if empty put 0)

weight of goods tonnes

mm/dd trailer or


trailer or


town and province

ortown and

foreigh country

unloading operations (arrival)

distance travelled

km

combined transport cross countries(international journey)

laden and empty journeys (explanatory note page.xxxx)

date load capacity

n° of axles departure type of place

loading operations (departure) arrival type of place



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A B C D E F G H I

1… …

2… … …

3… … ...

… … … .

… … … .

… … … .

… …

… …

… …

… … ..

… … ..

… … ..

1… …

2… … …

3… … ...

… … … .

… … … .

… … … .

… …

… … ..

… … ..

type of cargo

for coding use the

"c" code list

"d " code list

goods loaded

for coding use the

"a" code

dangerous good

for coding use the "b"

code list(if em pty put

0)

w eight of

goods tonnes

m m /dd trailer or

sem i-trailer

if used

trailer or

sem i-trailer if used

tow n and province

ortow n and

foreigh country

date load capacity

n° of axles

departure type of place

loading operations (departure)



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L M N O P Q R S T

1.

2.

3.

……….

……….

……….

1.

2.

3.

…….

……….

……….

transit between the place of


between the place of departure and the arrival

ship=1train=2

place of embarkation

town and province

ortown and

foreigh country

place of disembark

ationtown and province

ortown and foreigh country

town and province

ortown and foreigh country

"d "code list goods on board;

mark the number for

each consignment

good unloaded

tonnes (if empty

put 0)

arrival type of place

unloading operations (arrival)

distance travelled

km

combined transport cross countries

(international journey)



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Delivery-collection journeys

A B C D E F Gdate origin destination goods collected

mm/dd town and province

town and province

type of goods(a code list) (if empty put 0)

dangerousgoods (b code list)

total weight tonnes

type of cargo(d code list)



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Delivery-collection journeys

H I L M N O P Q R S

collection=1delivery=2repeated journey=3collection and delivery=4

types of journey

type of goods(a code list) (if empty put 0)

dangerousgoods (b code list)

total weight tonnes

type of cargo(d code list)

total km loaded

total km empty

for each journey only for collection/delivery

during the day

goods delivered distance travelled

n° of stop only for delivery-collection journey

n° of stop in the province where the journey start

n° of journey

Titolo intervento, nome cognome relatore – Luogo, data

For further details please, contact:

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[email protected]

[email protected]

Documents

Road freight transport survey Questionnaire design · Questionnaire design, Donatella Berna – Roma, 2nd October 2013 1. Questionnaire design: the objectives No hard rules. The first