Over the past decade there has been substantial progress in the development and application of techniques which measure and analyse consumer attitudes. These techniques have varied from initial efforts at unidimensional evaluation of existing facilities to multidimensional scaling of consumer preferences to complex decomposition techniques which estimate travel demand. The paper classifies uses of a wide range of attitude measurement and analysis techniques according to policy, planning operations or facilities design, reviews in detail the full spectrum of available techniques, and then presents a match of recommended techniques for each application. The paper pinpoints gaps in methodology as well as applications. Recommendations are based on continuing research by the author along with research reported in the literature. The paper relies on comparisons of practical aspects of each methodology, includes examples of questionnaires, and refers to analytical results in selected references. Explanations of algorithms are intuitive and conceptual rather than mathematical. The paper gives a comprehensive, realistic and when necessary, critical view of the appropriate use of these techniques. Attitudinal measures have been used to understand the motivations and behaviours in replicable studies of individuals for whom transport systems are planned. Attitudes also provide demand estimates in cases where econometric extrapolations are invalid because of large system changes. This paper surveys both uses of attitudinal measurements and discusses transport management and planning applications.(a) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 290118.
Abstract