Date Presented 03/26/20
AVs may provide numerous societal benefits, including reducing road fatalities, improving participation, and providing equity of services to the medically at-risk and economically disadvantaged. However, societal benefits will not occur if individuals do not accept and adopt this technology. Therefore, the aim was to design a survey that would assess users’ perceptions of AVs. Although further validation is required, this survey may provide insight into users’ perceptions of AVs.
Primary Author and Speaker: Sherrilene Classen
Additional Authors and Speakers: James Wersal
Contributing Authors: Justin Mason, Virginia Sisiopiku
PURPOSE: Fully automated vehicles (AVs) hold promise towards providing numerous societal benefits through productive aging, including drastically reducing road fatalities, improving participation, and equity of services to the medically-at-risk and economically disadvantaged. However, we know little about the adoption practices of individuals related to automated vehicles.
RESEARCH AIM: Several technology acceptance models guided the construction of a 40-item survey that was designed in this study to assess transportation users’ perceptions of automated vehicles. Perceptions entail perceived ease of use, usefulness, safety, trust, and external factors (i.e., media, authority, and social influences).
DESIGN: Descriptive study that assesses the face and content validity.
METHOD: A focus group of 11 members from the Institute of Mobility, Activity, and Participation assessed face validity to ensure items appeared credible and understandable to the layperson. Seven subject-matter experts in psychology, measurement, transportation, and/or human factors rated items for their relevance to provide a content validity index (CVI) for each item and the overall survey.
RESULTS: Face validity was established by removing one item (2.5%) and rephrasing nine items (22.5%) to enhance the concision and clarity of the items. While establishing content validity, six items were removed from the survey and five items were amended and sent back to the experts for further evaluation. The final scale had a scale CVI rating of 1.00, with 32 of 32 items rated > 0.86 and a scale CVI of 0.96 (mean CVI of all items), indicating acceptable content validity.
CONCLUSION: The approach adopted in this study ensured the face and content validity of the survey and enhanced the items’ relevance, concision, and clarity. The survey will be a valuable tool to assess user’s perceptions towards automated vehicles to address the perceptions of consumers across the lifespan.
References
Classen, S., Jeghers, M., Morgan-Daniel, J., Winter, S., King, L., & Struckmeyer, L. (2019). Smart in-vehicle technologies and older drivers: A scoping review. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 153944921983037. https://doi.org/10.1177/1539449219830376
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