The Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC) is a voluntary survey that began in 2005 replacing the Canadian Travel Survey (CTS). The TSRC is conducted monthly as a live supplement to the Labour Force Survey (LFS). It is specifically designed to measure domestic travel by Canadian residents, including the characteristics of travellers, as well as the characteristics and expenditures for individual trips.
In late 2008, due to survey funding challenges, the TSRC funding partners decided to drop one LFS sample rotation group from the survey, reducing the collected sample size by approximately half of the records. This change took effect at the beginning of February 2009. Given the anticipated reduction of records and the reliability of subsequent tourism estimates at the sub-provincial level, the TSRC Working Group committed to examine the possibilities of multi-year data pooling to enhance sub-provincial tourism estimates.
Statistics Canada worked to provide its funding partners with a variety of scenarios to redesign the TSRC. Ultimately, it was decided to proceed with a redesign that involved a longer recall period, a trip roster, and a trip selection procedure. These changes will significantly increase the total number of reported trips, will better control the total time of the interviews, and will update some content of the survey. On the other hand, these changes may break some time series and will require bias adjustment factors, imputation and significant changes to the TSRC tabulation system.
In order to highlight the changes to the questionnaire, the tables below explains the major differences between the current TSRC (2011 redesign) and the previous version of the TSRC (2005 - 2010), as well as the possible impact(s) for each of the changes. The changes listed are divided into two types: operational and conceptual changes.
| Operational changes | 2011 TSRC | 2010 TSRC | Implications / Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview length | Interview time is limited to 15 minutes for all Labour Force Survey supplements. | No time limit to the length of the interview. |
- Reduction of the burden imposed on the respondent. - Frequent travelers won't be asked detailed trip information for all their trips. |
| Two months recall period for overnight trips | When answering the TSRC, respondents are asked about the trips that ended in the previous month (same-day and overnight) as well as the overnight trips that ended two months before. | When answering the TSRC, respondents are asked about the trips that ended in the previous month (same-day and overnight). |
- Additional overnight trips will be collected. - Asking the respondent to remember trips ending two months earlier might introduce a recall bias in the data. This will have to be studied to determine whether an adjustment is required. |
| Roster of trips taken during reference period | At the beginning of the TSRC interview, a roster is created consisting of all trips that ended during the first and second month by the respondent. The collected information is on: main destination, main reason, duration, when trip ended, number of household members on the trip and mode of transportation. The roster collects information on domestic trips and on the Canadian portion of international trips. A summary screen of the trip information collected in the roster is available to the interviewer for verification during the interview. |
No roster. Detailed information on all in scope domestic and international trips that ended during the previous month is collected. |
- If the interview is interrupted after the roster, some travel information is already collected from all trips. - Out of scope trips are identified and being taken out of the selection process. - Provides a frame to select the trips for which we get further details on. |
| Sub-selection of trips from roster | From the trips roster, between one and three in-scope trips are randomly selected and information on these trip details are asked: secondary mode of transportation, travel party, expenditures, activities done while on the trip as well as locations and accommodations for overnight trips. The sub-selection of the trip is based on an algorithm that takes into account the nature of the trips: reference month, inter vs. intra provincial, overnight vs. same day, and number of identical trips |
No trip sub-selection. Detailed information on all in-scope domestic and international trips that ended in the previous month is collected. |
- Better control of the length of the interview and of the burden imposed on the respondent. - Frequent travellers will be more affected by this change as they will de asked to provide detailed information on a maximum of 3 trips. - A second sampling weight (called selected trip weight) will be added to the file for selected trips. |
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Mode of transportation used on trip Please refer to Appendix C for a detailed list of the mode of transport categories. |
Changes made to the breakdown of the mode of transportation categories:
"Bicycle" and "Motorcycle" have been removed. |
The mode of transportation used while on the trip question is followed by a separate question asking whether the mode of transportation is owned or rented. |
- The new list of responses reflects the transport categories used for the public use micro data file. - A question was removed which saves some time during the interview and reduces the amount of data manipulation to be done to the variables from collection to the output file. - Adding "airplane" to the second category reduces manual recoding during processing as "airplane" was often reported in the "other" response category. - Bicycles and motorcycles will now be reported in the "other" category. |
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Activities while on trip Please refer to Appendix D for a detailed list of the mode of transport categories. |
For overnight trips, three seasonal activities lists dependent upon the reference month, are used to define the answer categories to be read to the respondent. For same day trips, the interviewer selects the most important activity from a list. The list of activities that is not read to the respondent includes all activities from the complete list (merge of first and second list) for the overnight trips. |
For overnight trips, only two seasonal activities lists, dependent upon the reference month, are used to define the answer categories to be read to the respondent If the "other activity" response category was selected, the interviewer would manually enter the reported answer. For same day trips, the respondent would be asked to tell what the most important activity that he/she personally participated in during the trip. The interviewer would manually enter the answer in the application. |
- The use of these new seasonal activity lists will increase the consistency of how the question is asked and understood, as well as give the respondents more relevant answer categories. -The use of the second activity list saves time during the interview and data processing. - This approach, as well as saving time, provides more activities for analysis and better control of the data quality. - Manual coding of the same day trips activities is eliminated, improving the quality of the data file by reducing possible processing errors. It will also eliminate coding costs. |
| Automated search for locations (trigram search) | For all questions requiring the respondent to indicate a location (origin of the trip if differs from current address, destination of the trip, location of the visit or night,), the automated search feature of the application is used to retrieve the city or municipality name. A pre-set alphabetical list of location names (including the "other specify option) becomes available to the interviewer for selection after choosing the province or territory. The list includes city names, municipalities, parks, border crossings and airports. The assignation of a geographical code is done automatically during the processing of the data. |
Location information is typed in by the interviewer during the interview and a geographical code assigned manually during the processing of the data. |
- Increase in the quality of the data by reducing typing and processing errors. - Increase in the coherence of the data. - Reduces the interview time by minimizing the number of questions where an answer needs to be typed in by the interviewer. - Reduces the use of the manual geographical coding required for the "other specify" category. - Reduces the costs of coding the geographical information. |
| General Travel Behaviour | The question on whether the respondent took any overnight out of town trips for pleasure, vacation, or holiday within the previous 11 months will not be asked. | The question on general travel behaviour was asked to respondents of reference month 12 (December). Data from this question was used to estimate the annual travel incidence. |
- The annual travel incidence rates will be calculated using monthly rates of travel. - Reduces the interview time for respondents of reference month 12 (December). |
| Conceptual changes | 2011 TSRC | 2010 TSRC | Implications / Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| International trips | Only detailed information about the time spent in Canada while on an international trip is collected. | All detailed information about international trips with or without nights spent in Canada is collected. |
- Not collecting information on money spent outside of Canada will reduce the length of the interview and the burden to the respondent. - Money spent on commercial fares will be reallocated to Canadian transportation carriers only if the destination of the trip is in Canada. |
| In-scope/out-of-scope trips Please refer to Appendix A for detailed list out-of-scope trips. |
A non-routine trip to pick up or drop off someone or something is now out-of-scope. Trips for "some other business reason" are all in-scope |
A non-routine trip to pick up or drop off someone or something was in-scope. A routine trip for "some other business reason" was out-of-scope |
- Increase of volume and expenditure estimates. - Longer or shorter interview times for those respondents. |
| Tourism out of scope trips additional question | Tourism out of scope trips respondents are asked a new question on the total amount of money spent for the trip. Complete roster information is collected for these trips. |
- The information gathered about tourism out of scope trips is intended for the System of National Accounts use only to assess the gaps between travel and tourism. This information will not be available on the final data file. - Increases interview time for the respondents with these trips. |
|
| No additional question. | |||
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Main reason (purpose) for the trip Please refer to Appendix B for detailed list of main reasons for the trip. |
The main reason question has 2 main categories:
The respondent is then asked another question with sub-categories to get a more specific reason for the trip. The sub-category "For a routine sales or service call (including operating crews of commercial or transit vehicles)" became "For a regular sales or service call" and "Operating or being part of a crew for a commercial or transit vehicle". The word "routine" is replaced by "regular". |
The main reason question has 4 main categories:
The respondent is then asked another question with sub-categories to get a more specific reason for the trip. |
- This approach saves time and better categorizes answers for the respondents. - Impact of the changes in wording and flow of the questions will be assessed after a number of months in the field. - The first category, "for pleasure, vacation, or holiday" of the personal reasons, was changed to "for holidays, leisure or recreation" to meet the World Tourism Organization standards. |
| Similar and identical trips | The respondent can only report identical trips. To be identical, a trip has to have the same: main reason, main destination, mode of transportation, number of household members, and for the overnight trips, same number of nights and locations. |
The respondent could report identical and similar trips. To be similar, a trip has to have the same items as the identical trip but could differ in the main destination. |
- Increase in data accuracy as the concept of similar trips was reported by the interviewers as being unclear to the respondents. - Increase the interview time for the respondent with similar but not identical trips. |
| Spending while on trip |
Information on who paid for the trip is collected using only one question: What percentage or dollar amount of all costs that you just reported was paid for by "you" or "you or other members of your household? For trip (or travel) packages, a new question on how many nights were spent in Canada is asked. |
Information on who paid for the trip is collected using three questions: "What percentage of these costs was paid by individuals who live in other households and who did not go on the trip with you? What percentage of these costs was paid for by a private sector business or organization? "What percentage of these costs trip was paid for by a government? For trip (or travel) packages, no question on how many nights were spent in Canada is asked. |
- The question on who paid for the trip should be easier for the interviewers and respondents to understand. - Increase in the accuracy of the reallocation of the expenditures for travel packages. |
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Refusing or not knowing the total household income Please refer to Appendix E for detailed list of income categories. |
The income categories used in the questionnaire to probe when a respondent answers "Refuse" or "Don't know" to the total household income question are more detailed and meet the requirements of the harmonized content initiative of Statistics Canada. | The income categories used in the questionnaire to probe for the total household income are comparable to the one used historically by the predecessor of the survey. |
- The income ranges will not compare between the two iterations of the survey, introducing a break in the time series. - For the respondents that either refused to answer or do not know the answer to the question, the interview will be longer as the sub-categories are finer. - The content will be harmonized with other social surveys of Statistics Canada. |
| 2010 TSRC - List of out of scope trips | 2011 TSRC - List of out of scope trips |
|---|---|
|
Travel Excluded from the Definition of Tourism and Excluded from TSRC
Travel Included in the Definition of Tourism but Excluded from TSRC
*Limited information collected for SNA's travel account. |
| 2010 TSRC - Main Reason Questions | 2011 TSRC - Main Reason Questions |
|---|---|
|
MR_Q01 Which of the following best describes the main reason that the trip took place?
MR_Q02 More specifically, was the reason for this trip...?
MR_Q03 More specifically, was the reason for this trip...?
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MR_Q01 Which of the following best describes the main reason that the trip took place?
MR_Q02 More specifically, was the reason for this trip...?
MR_Q04 Was that...?
MR_Q09 More specifically, was the reason for this trip...?
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| 2010 TSRC - Transport Modes | 2011 TSRC - Transport Modes |
|---|---|
|
Answer categories: Car or truck |
Answer categories: Car or truck (privately owned) |
| 2010 TSRC - Detailed Activities List | 2011 TSRC - Detailed Activities List |
|---|---|
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For June to September if the trip is overnight. Responses (AT_Q01): For October to May if the trip is overnight. Responses (AT_Q02): |
For May to November if the trip is either overnight or overnight international with at least one night spent in Canada. Responses (ACT_Q01A): Other activities responses (ACT_Q01B): For December, January, or February if the trip is either overnight or overnight international with at least one night spent in Canada. Responses (ACT_Q02A): Other activities responses (ACT_Q02B): For March or April if trip is either international with time spent in Canada or overnight. Responses (ACT_Q03A): Other activities responses (ACT_Q03B): For same day trip in any month. Responses (ACT_Q04) |
| 2010 TSRC Income module | 2011 TSRC Harmonized Income questions |
|---|---|
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IN_Q01 What is your best estimate of the total income, before taxes and deductions, of all household members from all sources in (year preceding reference year)? |_|_|_|_|_|_|_| (Go to IN_STP) (Min: 0 Max: 9999995) DK, RF (Go to IN_Q02) Coverage: All respondents. IN_Q02 Can you estimate in which of the following groups your household income falls? Was this total household income less than $50,000 or $50,000 or more? 1 Less than $50,000 (Go to IN_Q03) Coverage: Respondents who did not respond to IN_Q01. IN_Q03 Was it less than $25,000 or $25,000 or more? (Total household income from all sources) 1 Less than $25,000 Default: (Go to IN_STP) Coverage: Respondents who responded "less than $50,000" in IN_Q02. IN_Q04 Was it less than $75,000 or $75,000 or more? (Total household income from all sources) 1 Less than $75,000 Default: (Go to IN_STP) Coverage: Respondents who responded "$50,000 or more" in IN_Q02. IN_Q05 Was it less than $100,000 or $100,000 or more? (Total household income from all sources) 1 Less than $100,000 Coverage: Respondents who responded "$75,000 or more" in IN_Q04. IN_STP END BLOCK |
Now a question about your total household income. INC_Q01: What is your best estimate of the total household income received by all household members, from all sources, before taxes and deductions, during the year ending December 31, 201x? Income can come from various sources such as from work, investments, pensions or government. Examples include Employment Insurance, Social Assistance, Child Tax Benefit and other income such as child support, alimony and rental income. Interviewer: Capital gains should not be included in the household income. I_I_I_I_I_I_I_I_I [Min: -9,000,000 Max: 90,000,000] DK, RF Interviewer: If respondent said DK, RF, go to INC_Q02, else go to INC_END. INC_Q02: Can you estimate in which of the following groups your household income falls? Was the total household income during the year ending December 31, 201x... ? Interviewer: Read categories to respondent. 1 Less than $50,000 (includes income loss) (Go to INC_Q03) 2 $50,000 and more (Go to INC_Q04) DK, RF (Go to thi_end) INC_Q03: Please stop me when I have read the category which applies to your household. Was it... ? Interviewer: Read categories to respondent. 1 Less than $5000 2 $5,000 to less than $10,000 3 $10,000 to less than $15,000 4 $15,000 to less than $20,000 5 $20,000 to less than $30,000 6 $30,000 to less than $40,000 7 $40,000 to less than $50,000 DK, RF INC_Q04: Please stop me when I have read the category which applies to your household. Interviewer: Read categories to respondent. 1 $50,000 to less than $60,000 2 $60,000 to less than $70,000 3 $70,000 to less than $80,000 4 $80,000 to less than $90,000 5 $90,000 to less than $100,000 6 $100,000 to less than $150,000 7 $150,000 and over RF/DK |