Fragmentation in Daily Schedule of Activities using Activity Sequences

Elizabeth Callahan McBride, Adam Wilkinson Davis, Konstadinos G. Goulias

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

A new method of sequence analysis to measure fragmentation in activity participation is presented in this paper. We applied this method to a sample of residents in the Central Coast of California that participated in the California Household Travel Survey in 2012–2013. This method explores sequences of daily activity and travel employing techniques from the sequencing of events in the life course of individuals. Studying sequences of daily episodes (each activity and each trip) is preferable to other techniques of studying activity-travel behavior because sequences include the entire trajectory of a person’s activity during a day while at the same time considering the number of activities, order of activities in a day, and their durations jointly. We found substantial fragmentation in activity participation among persons with children and in specific age groups (25–65) amplified by the presence of children in the household. We also found poverty plays an important inhibiting role. Examinations of the days of the week showed significant and substantial differences among the days with both Sundays and Saturdays being distinct, but also substantial differences among the weekdays. The paper provides details about this new technique and the statistical analysis of fragmentation. It also provides a discussion about future steps.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)844-854
Number of pages11
JournalTransportation Research Record
Volume2673
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Pacific Southwest Region 9 University Transportation Center and the GeoTrans Laboratory at the Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara.

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