'Participatory surveys' require the active involvement of people being surveyed, through some form of interview, questionnaire, or discussion. They can supplement observational surveys, by providing more details of individual travel patterns, and information on travellers' characteristics, attitudes, and reasons for travel. A major transportation study may need information about all these aspects and use a combination of survey techniques. Discussion groups or focus groups are used mainly at a study's early stages, to obtain insights into the issues most strongly in the minds of residents or actual or potential users of a transport facility. Household interview surveys provide important information on the characteristics, behaviours and attitudes of travellers. Their variants include face-to-face, mail, and telephone surveys. Trip end surveys interview people at the ends of their journeys. En-route surveys of travellers are often more efficient at collecting information about people making specific journeys; they include roadside interviews, questionnaire surveys, and licence plate surveys. Public transport passenger interview surveys are the usual method of collecting information about public transport journeys. There is a wide range of techniques for collecting information about people's attitudes. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 892228.
Abstract