Got sick of surveys or lack of social capital? An investigation on the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on institutional surveying.

The use of surveys to better understand students' experiences and teaching quality in higher education has a long history of implementation and critical review. Although research on student feedback surveys has highlighted a number of areas of concern, a well-designed student survey on teaching and learning will produce a strong foundation of evidence to inform action by academics and universities. Prior to the pandemic of 2020, analysis of the student surveys on teaching and learning highlighted lower rates of participation than in previous decades. This article examines the impacts of COVID-19 on the uptake of student surveys on teaching and learning within an Australian university. While students are affected by survey fatigue, some are more affected than others, especially those who are suffering from lack of academic and peer interaction. Using Bourdieu's concept of social capital, this article finds that first year students who started university during COVID-19 had a higher drop in response rate than other cohorts, highlighting the importance of interactions with peers when completing surveys. This article also complements the expanding literature on the impacts of COVID-19 on the experiences of higher education students.

Prolonged sitting in cars: prevalence, socio-demographic variations, and trends.

BACKGROUND: Prolonged sitting is detrimentally associated with health outcomes. However, the prevalence and characteristics of those who sit in cars for long periods are not well understood. This study examined the population prevalence, socio-demographic variations, and trends for prolonged sitting in cars among adults. METHODS: Using the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Area Household Travel Survey, the prevalence of prolonged sitting time in cars (≥2 h/day) was calculated for four 3-year periods (1997-99, 2000-02, 2003-05, and 2006-08) for each population subgroup. Trends were calculated as the mean change in prevalence between adjacent survey periods. RESULTS: Cars were used for 66% of the total trips recorded (n=336,505). The prevalence of prolonged sitting time in cars was 16-18% in men, and 10-12% in women. Relatively higher prevalence rates were found among middle-age groups (men: 20-22%, women: 12-15%), full-time workers (men: 21-24%, women: 14-15%), those with higher income (men: 21-25%, women: 14-16%), couples with children (men: 20-21%, women: 12-14%), and those living in outer suburbs (men: 20-23%, women: 12-13%). Trends were stable in men, but increasing in women. Several subgroups (older age; living in regional suburbs) also showed increasing trends. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence to inform integrated approaches to measurement and policy development on prolonged car use among the public health, urban planning, and transport sectors.

Public health perspectives on household travel surveys active travel between 1997 and 2007.

BACKGROUND: Active travel is beneficial to public health, but longitudinal population surveillance data on this behavior are limited. PURPOSE: This study aims to monitor active travel at different health-enhancing thresholds and to identify trip purposes that contributed to health by using transport survey data. METHODS: The continuous Sydney Greater Metropolitan Area Household Travel Survey (1997-2007) was analyzed in 2009. Each year, approximately 3250 households were randomly sampled (67% average response rate). All trips undertaken for a nominated 24-hour period were recorded for every household member during a face-to-face interview. Trips were coded by mode, purpose, duration, and street distance. The yearly prevalence and temporal change for adults (> or =15 years) were calculated for any walking and cycling (i.e., > or =1 trip per day) and by health-enhancing indicators dependent on trip duration (> or =10 minutes) and amount (i.e., > or =30 minutes/day). RESULTS: Significant increasing trends were observed for all walking indicators, with a peak in 2005, where 39.2% walked, 24.7% walked > or =1 trip of > or =10 minutes, and 14.3% or 17.8% achieved the recommended 30 minutes a day with or without stipulation on trip duration, respectively. Health-enhancing walking increased in most population subgroups. Cycling prevalence was low (<1.5%) but with significant increasing trends in all indicators and in selected subgroups. Utilitarian cycling trips were of long duration (medians=10-15 minutes) whereas utilitarian walking trips were shorter (medians=5-7 minutes). CONCLUSIONS: Transportation surveys can be used to assess the contribution of active travel to changes in physical activity levels assessed by public health surveillance and to identify subgroups for active travel interventions.

Trends in Australian children traveling to school 1971-2003: burning petrol or carbohydrates?

OBJECTIVE: To determine how Australian children traveled to and from school between 1971 and 2003. METHODS: The 1971 (n=4284), 1981 (n=4936), 1991 (n=662) and 1999-2003 (n=816) Household Travel Surveys from the New South Wales Government Department of Planning were used to determine the mode of transport kids (5-14 years) took to and from school in the area of Sydney (Australia). RESULTS: The results showed that the percentage of children aged 5-9 that walked to school was 57.7, 44.5, 35.3 and 25.5 in 1971, 1981, 1991 and 1999-2003, respectively. The percentage of children aged 5-9 that were driven to school by car in the four surveys was 22.8, 37.3, 53.9 and 66.6, respectively. The results for children aged 10-14 were similar, walking decreased from 44.2% to 21.1% and car use increased from 12.2% to 47.8% over the study period. Similar results were found for travel from school and there were no major differences between boys and girls. CONCLUSION: Between 1971 and 2003, Australian children's mode of travel to and from school has markedly shifted from active (walking) to inactive (car) modes.