About This Survey
Researchers from the University of British Columbia in partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada are conducting this study to better understand travel and in-home/online activity patterns in Metro Vancouver and Okanagan regions. The findings will shed light on understanding the benefits and challenges associated with new opportunities such as work-from-home, online shopping and vehicle electrification, and assist in transportation planning and infrastructure investment decisions to reduce traffic congestion and GHG emissions. If you have any questions or need further details, please contact the principal investigator, Dr. Mahmudur Fatmi, at uitr.lab@ubc.ca.
Incentives
Participants will be eligible to win one of: sixty $25 gift cards, fifty $50 gift cards, or thirty $100 gift cards (i.e., ~1-in-20 chance to win).
Participants
If you are a resident of Metro Vancouver or Okanagan regions*, aged 18 years and above, and have received an access code, you will be able to participate in the study. You will be asked to provide socio-demographics and 24-hour activity log information of all household members** aged 15 and above. If you are filling out the survey on behalf of your household members, please ask them to provide you with their information and consent to complete the survey. You can also download and share the consent form with them. Alternatively, you can invite your household members aged 15 and above to complete their information. This survey does not pose any risk to you other than that is encountered in your everyday life. The survey can be submitted online only.
*The study area encompasses the Okanagan region, defined as Vernon, Lake Country, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, and Peachland; and the Metro Vancouver region, defined as North Shore (North Vancouver District + North Vancouver City + West Vancouver), Vancouver, UEL Electoral Area A, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Richmond, Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley Township and Langley City.
**Household members are all persons who generally live in the housing unit including children, grandparents, roommates, live-in housekeepers and lodgers who share communal facilities. Exclude tenants and lodgers living in a separate unit in the house (e.g., tenants of a rental suite). Also, exclude anyone living elsewhere for more than 1 month (child living away at university) and temporary guests living for less than 1 month.
Instructions
You will be asked about your daily activity log for the previous weekday, including activities (such as work and shopping) performed at home and outside, over 24 hours. The day reported must be a weekday (i.e., Monday – Friday, excluding holidays). The survey will ask you to provide information about each place you have been, starting with your location at 4:00 a.m. on your reported day and ending with your location at 3:59 a.m. the following day.
Activity data will be collected for all household members aged 15 years and above, and they should be reporting on the same weekday. In addition, you will be asked about your socio-demographics and vehicle ownership information. This survey takes about 15 to 25 minutes to complete depending on the size of your household and the number of activities you have to report. Your response is very important, as the quality of the survey depends highly on the response rate, accuracy of the response and diversity of respondents. However, your participation is voluntary. Your privacy is our priority. All sensitive data will be securely stored on a password-protected server at UBC.
Consent and Privacy
Consent Form – British Columbia Activity Time Use Survey
1. Study Team
Principal Investigators:
Prof. Dr. Mahmudur Fatmi Assistant Professor School of Engineering – Civil The University of British Columbia | Okanagan Campus EME 3231 | 1137 Alumni Avenue, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada Email: mahmudur.fatmi@ubc.ca Research Lab: https://uitr.ok.ubc.ca/ UBC Profile: https://engineering.ok.ubc.ca/about/contact/mahmudur-fatmi/
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Khalad Hasan Assistant Professor Co-Director of Master of Data Science (Okanagan Campus) Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science | Computer Science The University of British Columbia | Okanagan SCI 260 – 1177 Research Road | Kelowna BC | V1V 1V7 Canada Email: khalad.hasan@ubc.ca UBC Profile: https://people.ok.ubc.ca/mkhasan/
2. Goals of the study
Our goal is to gather data about the daily activities of all household members, both at home and away. This information is vital for a deeper understanding of regional travel patterns, aiding in the development of improved plans, policies, and transportation infrastructure decisions. The data will also contribute to creating an innovative modelling system for predicting travel patterns and reducing congestion and transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Study area
The study area encompasses the Okanagan region, defined as Vernon, Lake Country, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, and Peachland; and the Metro Vancouver region, defined as North Shore (North Vancouver District + North Vancouver City + West Vancouver), Vancouver, UEL Electoral Area A, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Richmond, Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley Township and Langley City.
4. The study
BC ATUS is part of an Environment and Climate Change Canada-funded project titled Development of Transport Data, Model & Community Outreach Tool for Urban & Rural Regions awarded to the University of British Columbia in partnership with many municipalities in Metro Vancouver, such as City of Surrey, City of Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, among others, and in Okanagan, such as City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna, City of Vernon, Westbank First Nation, among others. As part of this study, we are collecting data in two ways: 1) web-based survey, and 2) smartphone app survey. The web survey asks questions about socio-demographics, vehicle ownership, and daily activity log, including in-home and out-of-home activities of all household members aged 15 years and above. The smartphone-based survey collects travel information and app usage over consecutive 7 days – only one adult member of your household, who are equipped with smartphones with iOS operating system (e.g., iPhone) will be allowed to participate in the smartphone-based survey.
5. Timetable of the study
The invitation you received, either by mail or e-mail, contains a link to our web-based survey as well as a personal access code to log in to the survey. The survey can be completed by one household member in its entirety. Alternatively, other household members can be invited to fill their activity logs themselves by adding their e-mail and phone numbers. The survey will automatically send them an email and an SMS with a link to complete their activity log and the socio-demographic questions. After completing the web-based survey, you will be invited to join the smartphone study. Please note that only one member of each household, who are equipped with smartphones with iOS operating system (e.g., iPhone) will be allowed to enter the smartphone study. That is, the access code will only be valid for one entry. Instructions on how to download and install the app will be available after the completion of the web-based survey. Please note that the smartphone-based survey will only become available after the web-based survey. That is, you need to complete the web-based survey to have access to the smartphone-based survey. We will track your mobility over one week (7 days) via the app. Tracking takes place in the background, but you need to validate the mode and purpose of the trips. It is recommended to start the smartphone-based survey within 2 days of the web-based survey completion. However, you will be able to start the smartphone-based survey up to December 16th to be able to finalize the 7 days of data collection by December 22nd. After you complete your study participation, you will be eligible for incentives as stated in 8. Requirements for Receiving the Incentives. The web-based survey might take 15 to 25 minutes to complete, depending on the size of your household and the number of activities reported. The smartphone-based survey might take up to 5 minutes every day to confirm travel mode and purpose. This study will happen in three consecutive waves: 2023, 2024, and 2025. By participating in wave number two in 2024 you are consenting to be contacted again for the following wave. Your participation in all waves is voluntary.
6. Requirements for participation
If you are a resident of Metro Vancouver or the Okanagan region, aged 18 years and above, and have received an access code, you will be able to participate in the study. You will be asked to provide socio-demographics and 24-hour activity log information of all household members aged 15 and above. If you are filling out the survey on behalf of your household members, please ask them to provide you with their information and consent to complete the survey. You can also download and share the consent form with them. Alternatively, you can invite your household members aged 15 and above to complete their information. This survey does not pose any risk to you other than that is encountered in your everyday life. The survey can be submitted online only.
Household members are all persons who generally live in the housing unit including children, grandparents, roommates, live-in housekeepers and lodgers who share communal facilities. Exclude tenants and lodgers living in a separate unit in the house (e.g., tenants of a rental suite). Also, exclude anyone living elsewhere for more than 1 month (child living away at university) and temporary guests living for less than 1 month. Please note that to participate in the smartphone-based survey, the household member must be 18+ years old, who are equipped with smartphones with iOS operating system (e.g., iPhone), be physically in their region of residence, have a smartphone app that can install the tracking app, have a valid access code, give all the permissions necessary for the app to completely run, not be staying overnight outside the area of residence, and agree to the terms described in this consent form. If translated versions of this consent form and the web-based survey are required, please contact the research team at uitr.lab@ubc.ca.
7. Potential Risks
The completion of the surveys, either web-based or smartphone-based, does not impose any more risks other than the ones faced in our daily lives. The survey will collect personal identifiers, such as residence and work addresses, phone numbers and e-mail. This collection of personal information could be emotionally distressing. To handle this, we assure you that your information will be kept safe at the University of British Columbia servers in Canada protected by a password which mitigates any risk of data breach. Any potential identifying information will be kept in a separate spreadsheet and will only be accessed by the PI’s and a few personnel of their research team. This data will be coded before being used solely for research purposes by approved UBC researchers adhering to strict confidentiality agreements. Data coding is the process of converting data into a form that can be analyzed. It involves assigning numerical or categorical codes to data items, such as responses to survey questions or demographic information. Moreover, the results will not be published unless aggregated at a high level from which is impossible to identify any personal information. This aggregated and coded version of the data will be made available to the public to assist in future research, planning and policymaking. Your responses will be combined with other responses in your area and cannot be traced back to you or any of your household members. The data will be retained for an undetermined time for historical analysis and comparison purposes. Addresses will be translated into variables, such as distance to the closest bus stop or the closest high school. Finally, for the smartphone-based survey, each day’s information is collected at the end of that day and not in real-time – meaning the data will only be transferred to the researchers at the end of each day. You can answer the questions of the day whenever you feel comfortable to do so. Therefore, there is absolutely no necessity to use the application while driving or performing other activities. Participants can choose not to answer any question that they do not feel comfortable responding to.
8. Requirements for Receiving the Incentives
We are pleased to inform you that as a sign of gratitude for participating in our survey, you will be considered for incentives as described below if you meet the following requirements: Web-based survey Participants will be eligible to win: Metro Vancouver: one of thirty-six $25 gift cards or one of thirty $50 gift cards or one of eighteen $100 gift cards (approximately 1 in 20 chances) Okanagan: one of twenty-four $25 gift cards or one of twenty $50 gift cards or one of twelve $100 gift cards (approximately 1 in 20 chances). Requirements: – Complete the web-based survey and add your email to participate in the draw. – Agree to this consent form. – Rightfully answer a skill-testing question that will be sent to your e-mail if you are one of the winners. Smartphone-based survey Participants who fully complete the 7-day period using the app will get a $25 gift card. Participants who fully complete 6 days will get a $20 gift card. Participants who fully complete 5 days will get a $15 gift card. Participants who only complete up to 4 days will not be eligible for any honoraria. A maximum of around 120 and 80 respondents for Metro Vancouver and Okanagan regions respectively, will be allowed to access the smart phone app survey. Requirements: – Install the app in your personal smartphone and complete the geo-positioning tracking data collection. – Add your email to the app. – Agree to this consent form. – Rightfully answer a skill-testing question that will be sent to your e-mail.
9. Right to withdraw
You may withdraw from the study within two weeks of completing the survey, and your data will be destroyed and will not be included in the analysis or any future research. If you wish to withdraw from the study, send an e-mail to uitr.lab@ubc.ca.
10. Data protection
Web-based survey
All safety measures have been put in place, e.g., we are only using UBC servers to host all raw and coded data. An aggregate and coded version of the data will be made publicly available, which will not contain any identifiable information. The servers are hosted at UBC Okanagan behind the university’s security system, and the only access point to them is through SSL-encrypted web pages (survey app). Access is logged and monitored. The servers are updated and maintained regularly using industry best practices. The raw data will be stored in a password-protected database on a server with encrypted backups taken daily and stored securely. The web-based survey tool was designed in a way to prevent bots and malicious scripts from attempting to manipulate the application. Survey participants are assigned a unique access code to prevent unauthorized submissions. The phone numbers and e-mails will be stored in a different database from the actual survey responses and coded data. The e-mail collected for the incentives will also be stored in a separate database. All these datasets will be stored in a dedicated server at UBC and disconnected from the web and any other datasets. The aggregated and coded data that will be publicly available will be stored in a different database. The published results of the project will not allow us to identify individuals. The researchers in this study may access the original data for control purposes under strict confidentiality requirements. The data will be retained for an undetermined time for historical analysis and comparison purposes.
11. Funding Agencies
This study is being funded by Environment Climate Change Canada under their Climate Change Action and Awareness fund and by the University of British Columbia.
12. Contact for Complaints
If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, contact the Research Participant Complaint Line in the UBC Office of Research Ethics toll-free at 1-877-822-8598 or the UBC Okanagan Research Services Office at 250-807-8832. It is also possible to contact the Research Complaint Line by email (RSIL@ors.ubc.ca). Please have the study number (H23-01932) handy so that the person can better help you.
13. Contact
If you have questions about the survey, including how to complete the survey, specific questions, data privacy, or anything related to the survey, please send us an e-mail at uitr.lab@ubc.ca.
It is highly encouraged for participants to download a copy of this consent form. To do so, please click the print agreement link on the first page of the web survey
IF YOU AGREE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY, PLEASE CONFIRM THAT YOU ARE 15 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AND CLICK “BEGIN SURVEY”.