Methods
The project involves the combination of social science and transport studies research methods:
- Ethnography on the move
- Focus groups with passengers
- Shadowing of passengers
- In-depth interviews with a wide range of figures from across the transport industry
- National survey of rail passengers (questions were included as part of the national SRA survey)
- Travel diaries (as part of PhD study)
- Testing and validation of results with passengers using a 'Travel Remedy Kit'
For this study to be effective in pursuit of its objectives and in addressing the research questions, it is essential that a multidisciplinary approach be adopted.
The field of transport studies represents the application area. It encompasses much of the existing body of travel behaviour research and methodologies that have been used to study travel choices. It also includes knowledge of the makeup, operation and management of the transport system and transport policy and appraisal methodologies.
Information and communications technologies (ICT) and human factors represent the physical travelling environment - the mobile devices and communications used by travellers and the vehicle design, layout and ride quality in which the individual travels.
Sociology, the study of the development, organisation, and functioning of human societies through space and over time, provides evidence and theories relating to the social context in which patterns of travel exist and in which travel decisions are made and time is allocated to, and spent engaging in, increasingly 'networked' activities. Sociology especially illuminates the importance and character of 'face-to-face' conversations within professional, business, family and social life more generally.
The results of our interdisciplinary methods have been published widely - see Downloads & Publications.
