Cooee

Cooee is part of a research project at The University of Sydney. For more information please see the following description:

Purpose of the study

This is an invitation to participate in a study by researchers at the University of Sydney. The purpose of the research is to investigate the use of a new smartphone app (which we call Cooee) for conducting travel surveys in Sydney, Australia. Travel surveys collect information on where, when, how, and why people travel around the city with this information used to inform transportation policy decisions. Understanding how participants engage with the app will inform a user-friendly design for future smartphone travel surveys.

The study is being supervised by Prof Stephen Greaves (Professor and Chair in Transportation Management) with members of the research team including Nina Verzosa (PhD candidate), Dr Chinh Ho, and Dr Richard Ellison from the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney.

What does the study involve?

Taking part in the study involves:

i) Completion of an online 10-minute on-boarding survey, capturing socio-demographic details and your thoughts about participating in a smartphone-based travel survey.

ii) Download of the Cooee Travel Survey app from Google Play, enabling your smartphone’s location services and carrying your smartphone with you for five days. The app traces your movements and automatically records information about where, when, why, and how you travel. At the end of each travel day, you need to confirm the accuracy of the data collected by completing the travel diary embedded in the app.

iii) Completion of a 5-minute online exit survey, capturing your thoughts having used the app.

Please note, the study is only available to Android phone users.

Can I withdraw from the study?

Your involvement in the study is voluntary and you may withdraw your participation from the study at any time and withdraw any data that you have provided to that point. There are no penalties for withdrawing from this study.

While we anticipate that the risk to you of taking part in this research study is minimal, you may feel uncomfortable sharing your location information, and if this is the case you can uninstall the Cooee app on your smartphone at any point.

If you decide to uninstall the Cooee app, we might contact you to complete an exit survey to help us understand other reasons that you may have for uninstalling the app and to get your feedback on how we can improve respondent experience in the future but doing so is completely voluntary.

We will prepare a summary of the results at the conclusion of the study – if you would like to receive this feedback report, please let us know by e-mailing [email protected].

Will anyone else know the results?

All aspects of the study, including results, will be strictly confidential and only the researchers will have access to information on participants. A report of the study may be submitted for publication, but individual participants will not be identifiable in such a report as the data will be aggregated.

Can I tell other people about the study? Yes, you may tell others about the study and if they are interested in participating, they can contact [email protected] to express their interest in participating.

What if I have a complaint or any concerns?

This study has been reviewed by the University of Sydney’s Human Research Ethics Committee. Any person with concerns or complaints about the conduct of a research study can contact The Manager, Human Ethics Administration, University of Sydney on +61 2 8627 8176 (Telephone); +61 2 8627 8177 (Facsimile) or [email protected] (Email).