Information for participating households
Table of contents
- Why is it important that you participate?
- How did we select you?
- What is the process of being surveyed?
- Why do we send out reminders?
- Which members of your household will be surveyed?
- What information will you be asked to provide?
- Which trips are important for the survey?
- Where can you get support?
- How do we protect your data?
- When will the results be published?
- Where can you find further information?
Why is it important that you participate?
The goal of transport and mobility planning is to enable all population groups to take part in societal life. Therefore, it is important to understand the mobility needs of all people. This is only possible when as many individuals as possible participate in the survey and provide information about their mobility behavior.
It is essential that a wide range of people take part, including those who, for example:
- only leave the house occasionally or not at all
- make only short trips
- do not have a car
- were not in their home city on the reporting day
People with limited mobility are also explicitly asked to take part in the survey.
How did we select you?
Since it is not possible to survey the entire population, a selected part of all residents is surveyed as a representative sample.
The addresses of these individuals are drawn at random from the registers of residents of the cities and municipalities. There are no restrictions regarding age, nationality, or main versus secondary residence. The corresponding households are then contacted based on these addresses.
As a result of the random selection, it is not unusual that, for example, neighbors of a selected household do not receive the survey materials.
What is the process of being surveyed?
All selected households receive an official announcement letter. This letter informs them about the purpose of the survey and asks for the participation of all household members. The letter also includes a privacy statement.
All households are initially sent a short screening questionnaire, which also asks for a telephone number or e-mail address. After returning the questionnaire, these households receive a follow-up letter informing them of their reporting day. If a telephone number has been provided, they will be called and interviewed after the reporting day. Alternatively, they have the option to participate online at www.srv2023.de.
For both the telephone and online surveys, participants can refer to a travel diary provided as part of the survey materials where they note down their trips on the reporting day to remember them.
Why do we send out reminders?
There are various reasons why selected individuals do not respond to the request to return the screening questionnaire. These include cases where the survey documents have been misplaced or forgotten. Therefore, you will receive a maximum of two reminder letters.
Nevertheless, participation in the survey is, of course, voluntary. The survey institute will not contact you again after the second reminder and will delete your data. If you do not wish to participate, please ignore these reminders.
Reminders are sent automatically. If the dispatch of a reminder letter overlaps with the arrival or processing of your response, you may still receive a reminder after you have posted your response. In this case, you do not need to take any further action.
Which members of your household will be surveyed?
All members of the contacted household who live together and share household finances are surveyed. Individuals who did not leave the house on the reporting day are also expressly asked to participate in the survey.
It is equally important that children are included in the survey, but this is always done through their legal guardians.
What information will you be asked to provide?
We collect information about the household and the household members. This includes, for example, the number of cars owned by the household or how often household members use public transport. In addition, information about the trips made by all household members on a specified reporting day is particularly important.
Which trips are important for the survey?
All trips made on the specified reporting day are important, including trips on foot, trips home, return trips, walks or hikes, and short trips (e.g., taking a letter to the mailbox, going to the bakery). This also applies to trips that took place after midnight.
A trip is always linked to a specific purpose or destination (e.g., work, shopping, leisure). For example: from home to work, then to lunch, back to work, then from work to shopping and then home = 5 trips
Outbound and return trips are always two different trips.
If you use several means of transport or transfer, this remains one trip.
For example: walking from the cinema to the bus stop, taking the bus home, and then walking the rest of your way home = 1 trip
Round trips, meaning trips with the same starting point and destination (e.g., hikes, bike rides, walking the dog) are also two different trips. The first half of the trip (trip 1) has the corresponding trip purpose (e.g., leisure), and the second half of the round trip (trip 2) has the purpose of the starting point (e.g., going home or to work).
Where can you get support?
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the survey institute O.trend. This is how you can reach them:
- Free telephone hotline: 0800 830 1 830
- E-mail address:
- Webchat and contact form at www.srv2023.de
How do we protect your data?
We assure that both TUD Dresden University of Technology and the appointed survey institute O.trend comply with all relevant data protection regulations. All individuals involved in the survey have provided written commitments to comply with these regulations. Compliance with the data protection regulations will be monitored.
After the survey, your address and your responses will be stored separately.
Your address and telephone number are kept confidential. They are deleted once all answers from your household have been fully and accurately recorded, and no later than at the end of the survey period.
Your responses are converted into numbers and stored without your name, address or destination addresses (i.e., anonymized) on a data storage device (e.g. a hard drive). After the data is anonymized in this way, it is impossible to make any connections to you.
When will the results be published?
The city-specific results will first be made available to the commissioning institutions, who will subsequently handle their publication.
City-independent results, e.g., concerning city groups and overarching development trends, will be published by TU Dresden. For the two most recent survey iterations, these are available for download on the SrV 2018 and SrV 2013 results pages.
Where can you find further information?
At www.srv2023.de you will find further information on the project background and data protection, an FAQ section and the registration window for the online questionnaire (for households invited to participate).