Workshop Synthesis: Survey Methods for Hard-to-Reach Groups and Modes

Transport decision-making requires data from all travellers. This is usually obtained from sample surveys – using rigorous sample selection, survey design and analysis. However people are often systematically excluded because they cannot respond to the chosen survey instrument and/or they represent rare behaviours not easily captured by traditional sampling techniques. These “hard-to-reach” groups are the subject of this paper.This workshop identified current hard-to-reach groups in different cultural and geographical settings, providing case studies from three countries. It also identified research designs to address these challenges and suggested ways to identify hard-to-reach respondents whose absence in the data will affect results.