How Late Reporters Effect Data Quality in Longitudinal Surveys – Experiences From the German Mobility Panel

Survey design always has a significant influence on the outcomes. Therefore, this paper investigates how follow-up campaigns affect survey outcomes and response rates in longitudinal surveys. Furthermore, it is assessed how late reports in the fall affect survey outcomes. The analyses are based on the unique data of the German Mobility Panel. Overall, this paper paints a broad picture of the methodological aspects and overlapping effects that should be considered before starting the fieldwork of longitudinal surveys. The results indicate that people who are reminded to participate positively influence the survey outcomes - even when the report is belated

Workshop Synthesis: How to Collect and Use Longitudinal Data?

This paper is based on the presentations, papers and discussions of workshop “Longitudinal data” at the ISCTSC conference in Porto Novo in March 2022. The presentations and discussions are primarily based on three different panel surveys that represent different approaches and designations. All these surveys have to struggle with typical challenges. The paper discusses the analytical characteristics and the designation of longitudinal surveys, addresses the problems and challenges of longitudinal surveys and will sum up the discussed strategies, in which a long-term continuity of such surveys can be secured

How the COVID-19 pandemic changes daily commuting routines – Insights from the German Mobility Panel

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on everyday travel and, by extension, everyday commuting. During the pandemic, some people were able to work from home while others continued commuting. This study examines how commuting behavior changed between 2019 and 2020. In this study, we analyze panel data of the German Mobility Panel, a national household travel survey. We paint a broad picture of the characteristics and behavior of those who commuted during the pandemic. The analyses focus on the intra- and interpersonal differences and are presented in a mostly descriptive way. The results show that people with low income and a low level of education are primarily those who cannot work from home and do not have flexible working hours. The results further show that especially public transport has lost importance in daily commuting. However, those who commuted in 2019 and 2020 did not significantly change their commuting behavior regarding commuting time and commuting mode

Effects of COVID-19 on Telework and Commuting Behavior: Evidence from 3 Years of Panel Data

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employers and employees to re-evaluate their attitudes toward telecommuting. This induced a change in the sheer number of people who have started to work from home (WFH). While previous studies highlight differences between telecommuters based on their level of telecommuting experience, these effects have not been studied in detail. This may limit the evaluation of implications for post-pandemic times and the transferability of models and predictions based on data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study expands on previous findings by comparing the characteristics and behavior of those who have started to telecommute during the pandemic and those who had already telecommuted before. Furthermore, this study addresses the uncertainty that exists about whether the findings of studies conducted before the pandemic—for example about sociodemographic characteristics of telecommuters—still hold true, or if the pandemic induced a shift in telecommuters’ profiles. Telecommuters show differences when considering their previous experience in WFH. The results of this study suggest that the transition induced by the pandemic was more drastic for new telecommuters compared with experienced telecommuters. The COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on how household configurations are considered in the choice to WFH. With decreased access to child care resulting from school closings, people with children in the household were more likely to choose to telecommute during the pandemic. Also, while people living alone are generally less likely to choose to WFH, this effect was reduced as a result of the pandemic

Methodological Challenges for Measuring Behavioral Changes in a Longitudinal Travel Survey Under Pandemic Conditions

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on everyday life. In an attempt to stop the virus spread, unprecedented containment measures are being taken worldwide. These preventive measures are consequently affecting everyone\u27s life and how we move. Equally remarkable is the speed at which these observed and massive changes occur and the lack of statistical evidence. In the annual cycle, the German Mobility Panel (MOP) launched an additional questionnaire for the general population, containing approximately 4,000 respondents. This paper provides insights into the MOP data quality issues and changes in daily travel under pandemic conditions

Checking Data Quality of Longitudinal Household Travel Survey Data

Ensuring data quality of household travel survey data is often tedious and, thus, time-consuming. To speed up the process of data-checking and to gain an in-depth understanding of the data, data visualization is a practical, fundamental tool. Since 1994, data visualization has been used in the German Mobility Panel (MOP) data-checking process. This paper presents two graphical visualization tools developed for the MOP. Both tools speed up the data checks and ensure high consistency in identifying erroneous data. This paper describes and discusses how the tools provide a continuous data quality assessment

Identification of Non-Routine Tours in Everyday Travel Behavior

This paper deals with the distinction between everyday and tourism related travel. As no objective definition exists to differentiate between these two, surveys usually focus only on one aspect. In particular, this does not provide an overall picture of tourism related travel as some tourism activities are also embedded in everyday life, such as day excursions. However, it is of high relevance to distinguish these types of travel as policy measures may influence these aspects of travel differently and motivations and backgrounds to perform such travel are different. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism activities take place outside the usual environment of people. In this paper, we approach this subjective definition of a personal environment using data of the German mobility panel. Analyzing the data of three reported weeks of everyday travel behavior per person, we calculate personal thresholds to approach an individual usual environment to decide which part of everyday travel behavior is outside of this environment and thus called non-routine. For this decision, we present a stepwise heuristic that finally distinguishes between routine and non-routine behavior for each tour of a person. Using one heuristic version for analysis, we identify 8.56% of all tours as non-routine. This corresponds to 9.57% of all reported trips but accounts for 33.44% of distances travelled in our dataset. Young people and students have the lowest share of non-routine tours. The opposite was found among pensioners and older age groups who have the highest shares of non-routine behavior

Bonding mechanisms in laser-assisted joining of metal-polymer composites

Metal-Plastic hybrid components and assemblies are gaining importance due to novel lightweight constructions and a growing integration of functions by using the right material at the right place. Thermal joining enables a joining technology for thermoplastic materials and engineering metals without using adhesive or joining elements. The paper provides novel investigations on the interaction between form fit and physicochemical interactions due to the combined use of specifically used oxide layers, interaction barriers and defined surface structuring by laser processing. Thereby, the design of experiments allows the investigation of the form fit as dominant interaction mode