Post-car world: Survey methods and response behavior in the pre-test

The empirical basis of this comprehensive three-stage Post-Car World survey is a twoweek travel diary that is required to obtain the reference values for the later stated choice and stated adaptation tasks. This paper provides first detailed information about the survey design, recruitment and pre-test fieldwork. An initial investigation of the data and its quality attributes, descriptions of the sampling structure and response behavior are presented. Due to the high response burden and complexity of tasks, this quality check is crucial for improving the recruitment and survey process of the main survey. A high incentive level leads to a significantly higher participation rate, but the net-effect on completing the survey is zero: Once recruited, higher incentives even lead to a higher drop-out incidence. Certain socio-demographic characteristics are consistently overrepresented for the participation and drop-out groups: Season ticket ownership strongly increases participation and completion of the survey, while motorized vehicle ownership positively affects drop-out incidence. While general fatigue effects could not be detected, season ticket owners also exhibit a stabler reporting behavior over time. Findings suggest saliency effects, where response behavior seems to be influenced by the respondents’ interest in the survey topic