Discovery on the National Travel Survey
We were appointed by the Department for Transport to conduct a discovery project to help them better understand the user need surrounding the digitisation of the one week travel diary component of the National Travel Survey.
The work sought to capture the flow of data, from collection to analysis and identify opportunities for digitisation throughout the process.
The work focused on the needs of both survey participants and data users, to understand the implications of adopting digital approaches to survey completion.
We needed to explore the potential impact, attitudes, opportunities and barriers involved with moving from a paper survey to a digital experience, especially for people less confident with digital services.
The National Travel Survey is completed by a genuine sample of the population, so our research recruitment strategy needed to match that.
We adopted a mixed methods approach to data collection to achieve this:
- 20 1-2-1 semi-structured interviews were carried out with Travel Diary user representatives (both Diary Keepers and Interviewers)
- 6 users took part in user needs workshops
- Diary Keepers were observed as they took part in an NTS interview.
- 2 surveys
- A review of published and unpublished NTS statistics.
The work was also informed by three detailed landscape analysis case studies.
Our process generated a set of recommendations, accompanied by concept prototypes for a future digitised Travel Survey experience.
The Department for Transport team are now confidently proceeding to Alpha, based on our recommendations
“Everyone involved at DfT were really impressed with the Discovery Lagom conducted for us. The quality of the research, outputs and the way Lagom worked with us throughout was exceptional.
Adam Evans, Senior Statistical Officer, National Travel Survey, Department for Transport
“They immersed themselves at the beginning to really understand the problems we were looking to solve and their communication and dedication couldn’t have been better.
“I would recommend Lagom to anybody who requires a Discovery for exploring the use of technology.”
