REACT!: A Web-based Travel/Activity Survey

M. G. McNally <mmcnally@uci.edu>
Ming S. Lee <mlee@tjkm.com>
Yu Zhang <yzhang@translab.its.uci.edu>
Elizabeth Geho <egeho@translab.its.uci.edu>

Institute of Transportation Studies and
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of California Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3600 USA

CHASE, an interactive activity survey developed by Sean Doherty, served as the catalyst for the REACT! project. Sean participated in the design and development of iCHASE, a planned web-based version of CHASE, which in turn served as the catalyst for the REACT! software. The initial version of REACT! was independently programmed by Ming S. Lee.

Funded by a grant from the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC).

REACT! Overview

REACT! was developed as a tool to elicit and evaluate information on household travel and activity bahavior to examine the process of planning, scheduling, and executing household activities and travel over the course of a typical week. The demand for travel is tied to the need to participate in activities, thus, a decision to participate in travel and activities can only be understood in light of the entire activity scheduling process. REACT! was designed to do just that.

A Computer-Aided Self-administered Interview (CASI) program, REACT!, is used to collect activity schedules from program participants. Each REACT! application surveys a full week of activity scheduling behavior for each participant and other adults in their households. The data will depict participants' typical weekly activity programs. If you have one or more household vehicles, REACT! may be used in conjunction with a GPS tracking instrument, TRACER, installed in each of your vehicles. TRACER units integrate GPS capabilities with wireless communications so that vehicles can be tracked in real-time. While the tracking study is active continuously, the REACT! program is to be executed at regular, preferably daily, intervals. If your have TRACER equipped vehicles, REACT! will be able to display your daily trips to help you complete the REACT! diary.

The REACT! Survey

A web-based travel/activity survey, REACT! is designed as a Computer Aided Self-administered Interview. REACT! elicits both travel/activity plans as well as revealed travel patterns as a step toward revealing the household scheduling process. REACT! comprises two linked components.

The first is the Initial Interview, a self-administered series of a dozen or so screen interfaces which is completed the day before the diary period begins. This initial interview concludes with completion of the first pre-travel survey. During this phase, all travel and activity that is planned for the survey period (typically a week) is scheduled at a level of detail corresponding to the level of planning -- only those attributes actually planned are recorded.

The second component is the Daily Interview, a self-administered survey of the previous 24 hours of travel and activity. Planned activities can be moved from the pre-travel or "anyday" plans to the current day's survey, adding any unplanned characteristics and updating as necessary. At any Daily Interview, additional pre-travel planning for the remainder of the week may be recorded.

Overview of REACT! User Interface
For an overview of the REACT! interview which displays all of the REACT! interactive screens, click HERE (note that this document will use frames; you may use the sample screens below to jump to REACT! sections without frames)

	Initial Interview Household Data		Initial Interview Activity Data		Activity Location GIS Map Utility		Planning/Updating Weekly Calendar		Planning/Updating Daily Calendar

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2. McNally,MG and Lee,MS (2002). Putting Behavior in Household Travel Behavior Data: An Interactive GIS-based Survey Via the Internet, Final Report to the University of California Transportation Center, Berkeley, CA. [ html ]
3. Lee,MS and McNally,MG (2002). On the Structure of Weekly Activity/Travel Patterns", presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC. [ pdf ]
4. Lee,MS, Marca,JE, Rindt,CR, Koos,AM, and McNally,MG (2001). "A Shared-Use Electric Vehicle Program: Integrating a Web-based Survey with In-vehicle Tracking", Paper for the 17th PacRim Regional Science Association Meeting, Portland, July 2001.
5. Ming-sheng Lee (2001)."Experiments with a Computerized Self-Administered Activity Survey", unpublished Ph.D. dissertation in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine.
6. Lee,MS and McNally,MG (2001). "Experiments with A Computerized Self-Administered Activity Survey", Transportation Research Record 1752, pp. 91-99. [ pdf ]
7. Lee,MS, Sabatiashraf,R, Doherty,ST, Rindt,CR, and McNally,MG (2000). "Conducting an Interactive Survey of Household Weekly Activities via the Internet: Preliminary Results from a Pilot Study", presented at the IATBR 2000 Conference, Australia. [ pdf ]
8. Lee,M-S, Doherty,S, Sabetishraf,R, and McNally,MG (2000). "iCHASE: An internet-based Computerized Household Activity Scheduling Elicitor", presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC. [ pdf ]
9. ITS Review (2000). "High-Tech Answers to Travel Behavior Questions", ITS Review, Vol. 23, No.1-3, pp 6-7, May 2000.

... Continuously evolving ...

[ last revised 12 april 2003 ]