IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v49y2013icp256-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting for site-selection bias in before–after studies for continuous distributions: Characteristics and application using speed data

Author

Listed:
  • Kuo, Pei-Fen
  • Lord, Dominique

Abstract

The before–after study is still the most popular method used by traffic engineers and transportation safety analysts for evaluating the effects of an intervention. Compared to the cross-sectional study, the before–after study has lower within-subject variability since it directly accounts for changes that have occurred at the study sites. However, although this kind of study may offer superior performance, it can still be plagued by important methodological limitations, which could significantly alter the study outcome. They include the regression-to-the-mean (RTM) and site-selection effects. The primary objective of this study consists of presenting a method that can reduce the selection effects when an entry criterion is used in before–after studies for continuous data (e.g. speed, reaction times, etc.), without relying on the use of a control group. The distribution of the data could follow a normal or lognormal distribution. The study objective was accomplished using simulated and observed speed data collected in Florida. The proposed method documented in this paper was compared to the Naïve, Control Group (CG) and the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) methods. The simulation results show that the proposed method provides a more precise estimate than the Naïve method, as expected. In addition, the method performs better than the CG and the ANCOVA methods when similar control group data are not available. The results also show that higher entry criteria, lower between-subject variances, and higher within-subject variances cause higher selection biases. When traffic engineers and urban planners evaluate or compare different strategies, the proposed method can be applied to adjust naïve estimators of treatment effectiveness documented in previous studies without similar control group data.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuo, Pei-Fen & Lord, Dominique, 2013. "Accounting for site-selection bias in before–after studies for continuous distributions: Characteristics and application using speed data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 256-269.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:49:y:2013:i:c:p:256-269
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2013.01.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096585641300030X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2013.01.023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnston, Robert & Ceerla, Raju, 1996. "The Effects of New High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes on Travel and Emissions," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt32f144w7, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    2. Park, Byung-Jung & Zhang, Yunlong & Lord, Dominique, 2010. "Bayesian mixture modeling approach to account for heterogeneity in speed data," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 662-673, June.
    3. Johnston, Robert A. & Ceerla, Raju, 1996. "The effects of new high-occupancy vehicle lanes on travel and emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 35-50, January.
    4. Watkins, Kari Edison & Ferris, Brian & Borning, Alan & Rutherford, G. Scott & Layton, David, 2011. "Where Is My Bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 839-848, October.
    5. Tétreault, Paul R. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2010. "Estimating bus run times for new limited-stop service using archived AVL and APC data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 390-402, July.
    6. Obeng, Kofi & Burkey, Mark, 2008. "Explaining crashes at intersections with red light cameras: A note," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 811-817, June.
    7. Diab, Ehab I. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2012. "Understanding the impacts of a combination of service improvement strategies on bus running time and passenger’s perception," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 614-625.
    8. Dziekan, Katrin & Kottenhoff, Karl, 2007. "Dynamic at-stop real-time information displays for public transport: effects on customers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 489-501, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marina Lagune-Reutler & Andrew Guthrie & Yingling Fan & David Levinson, 2015. "Transit Riders' Perception of Waiting Time and Stops' Surrounding Environments," Working Papers 000142, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    2. Matsumoto, Takayuki & Hidaka, Kazuyoshi, 2015. "Evaluation the effect of mobile information services for public transportation through the empirical research on commuter trains," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 144-158.
    3. Mulley, Corinne & Clifton, Geoffrey Tilden & Balbontin, Camila & Ma, Liang, 2017. "Information for travelling: Awareness and usage of the various sources of information available to public transport users in NSW," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 111-132.
    4. Robert Noland & William Cowart, 2000. "Analysis of Metropolitan Highway Capacity and the growth in vehicle miles of travel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 363-390, December.
    5. Cats, Oded & Loutos, Gerasimos, 2013. "Real-time bus arrival information system: an empirical evaluation," Working papers in Transport Economics 2013:25, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    6. Kari Watkins & Alan Borning & G. Rutherford & Brian Ferris & Brian Gill, 2013. "Attitudes of bus operators towards real-time transit information tools," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 961-980, September.
    7. Bento, Antonio M. & Hughes, Jonathan E. & Kaffine, Daniel, 2013. "Carpooling and driver responses to fuel price changes: Evidence from traffic flows in Los Angeles," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 41-56.
    8. Anne Brown & Whitney LaValle, 2021. "Hailing a change: comparing taxi and ridehail service quality in Los Angeles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 1007-1031, April.
    9. Giacomo Lozzi & Valerio Gatta & Edoardo Marcucci, 2018. "European urban freight transport policies and research funding: are priorities and H2020 calls aligned?," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 5, pages 53-71.
    10. Wen Hua & Ghim Ping Ong, 2018. "Effect of information contagion during train service disruption for an integrated rail-bus transit system," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 571-594, December.
    11. Frei, Charlotte & Mahmassani, Hani S. & Frei, Andreas, 2015. "Making time count: Traveler activity engagement on urban transit," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 58-70.
    12. Yingling Fan & Andrew Guthrie & David Levinson, 2015. "Perception of Waiting Time at Transit Stops and Stations," Working Papers 000127, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    13. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 46-91.
    14. Zhou, Chang & Tian, Qiong & Wang, David Z.W., 2022. "A novel control strategy in mitigating bus bunching: Utilizing real-time information," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Van Acker, Veronique & Ho, Loan & Mulley, Corinne, 2021. "“Satisfaction lies in the effort”. Is Gandhi’s quote also true for satisfaction with commuting?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 214-227.
    16. Rhoads, Thomas A. & Shogren, Jason F., 2006. "Why do cities use supply side strategies to mitigate traffic congestion externalities?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 214-219, August.
    17. Fan, Yingling & Guthrie, Andrew & Levinson, David, 2016. "Waiting time perceptions at transit stops and stations: Effects of basic amenities, gender, and security," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 251-264.
    18. Cats, Oded & Loutos, Gerasimos, 2016. "Evaluating the added-value of online bus arrival prediction schemes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 35-55.
    19. Md Matiur Rahman & Lina Kattan & S. C. Wirasinghe, 2018. "Trade-offs between headway, fare, and real-time bus information under different weather conditions," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 217-240, August.
    20. Wang, Po-Chieh & Hsu, Yu-Ting & Hsu, Chia-Wei, 2021. "Analysis of waiting time perception of bus passengers provided with mobile service," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 319-336.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:49:y:2013:i:c:p:256-269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.