Concept of Sustainable Transport - Research Proposal Example

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT RESEARCH REPORT A. Introduction and outline 1. Problem statement The world today has many environmental, economic and social problems that threaten to wipe out mankind from the face of the earth. Among these many problems are those that result from the use of fossil fuels in what is known as unsustainable transport. Many people blame fossil fuels for the air pollution, water pollution, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, global warming and climate change that are major problems in the world today. Fossil fuels when burnt produce carbon dioxide, oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, heavy metals and organic compounds which are very bad pollutants of soil, air and water. The implication for this is that unsustainable transport threatens to existence of life on earth (Ryan, Turton, 2007, 45). It is dangerous to the existence of man, plants and animals. Sustainable transport that involves the use of clean fuels should replace the current form of transportation. Sustainable transport has the capacity to solve the current economic, social and environmental problems in the world. However, the long time use of fossil fuels and the economic benefit that different nations obtain from it makes it hard for people to adopt sustainable transport despite its benefits. Many governments and people involved in the production, trade and consumption of fossil fuels are aware of the problems they cause. Their failure to accept that sustainable transport could be a better option has been the main stumbling block in its adoption (Rietveld,  Stough, 2005, 63). 2. Literature Review With the current heavy reliance on fossil fuels and other unsustainable means of transport, sustainable transport has not been adopted widely across the world (Banister, Button, 1993, 65). There is a lot to be done by stakeholders in the transportation industry and governments in order to reduce the use of unsustainable transportation. There is an obvious need for people all over to adopt sustainable transport. Cities have many problems with global warming. The world Resources Institute estimates that the transport is responsible for the 24.1% of the CO2 emitted all over the world (Green Energy Choice 2012). This is in spite of the fact that the transportation is very crucial in local commuting, connecting cities on the globe, and helping people interact for economic purposes. The best solution for maintaining interactions at the local, national, international, and regional levels in a manner that enhances sustainable development has not been discovered. Currently, stakeholders in various countries have not succeeded in coming up with an elaborate strategy for sustainable transportation systems (Australian Government 2010). Many conferences organized at the international level, have made efforts to discuss sustainable transportation in the context of sustainable development. Examples include the 1992 Earth Summit of the UN at Rio de Janeiro, the Kyoto Convention that discussed climate change and the European Conference of Transport Ministers. There have been many hurdles in the adoption of sustainable development policies and in particular those of sustainable transport. Despite these stumbling blocks and the other challenges experienced at the international level, there are many moves aiming at sustainable transport (Schiller, Bruun, Kenworthy, 2010, 114). All over the world, researchers are making efforts to develop policies for sustainable transport while cities try to have these policies implemented. For anybody to plan for sustainable transportation systems, he should have realized that it is a complex undertaking with many uncertainties and options. Governments are seeking to have policies that all the affected groups can accept without being forced (Rietveld &Stough, 2005, 113). A proper strategy for implementation should be in place to enhance the transition from the way people have been travelling to the new ways. The future of sustainable transportation hangs on the availability of policies and the willingness of people to switch to better ways of transportation (Ryan &Turton, 2007, 98). Even though there is minimal success from the efforts of various institutions to popularize public transportation, this should not be the end of the road for such efforts. Technological innovations should be stepped up as well so that better, profitable and easy to use ways of sustainable transport can be discovered. This will help convince the majority of people that sustainable transportation is far much better that the unsustainable transportation that is so popular today (Black, 2010, 78). 3. Research questions The researcher designed the study with the focus of getting answers to these four questions that would provide guidance to the research. What is the prevalence of sustainable transportation around the world? What efforts is the international community making to ensure the adoption of sustainable transportation? What options for sustainable transportation are available for adoption? What willingness do people have in switching to sustainable transportation? B. Research Design 1. Methods a) Suitability of the obtrusive method The Obtrusive method thrusts out and is evident to people. It requires that direct response be obtained from the participants using interviews and questionnaires (McDougal Littell 2006). This method is suitable because the researcher can seek clarification on various issues in the answers given in interviews with participants (Winkler, & Metherell, 2011). Meeting the participants face to face helps the researcher to get the real picture about the situation since it is possible to record the participants’ voices. Respondents can give their feelings, opinions and personal perceptions. There are no issues of observer bias in this method (Betts, 2005). This means that the researcher can collect information and data that has high credibility and accuracy levels hence increasing the quality of the entire study. The method records a high response rate. b) Suitability of the unobtrusive method The unobtrusive method is hidden and is undertaken at a low key. This method is suitable especially for data collection because the researcher does not intrude in the affairs of the participants. It is cheaper and time saving because interaction with respondents is not allowed. This means expenses such as development, issuance, and collection of questionnaires are avoided. The researcher watches the subjects in a very natural state. Because they are unaware that there is somebody watching, they maintain natural behavior. The researcher is free to directly get to the social phenomena being studied. The method also avoids the bias in the obtrusive method caused by the lack of complete or accurate information from respondents due to socially accepted ways of behaving and responding (Betts, 2005, 72). 2. Data collection instrument/selected method The instrument chosen for data collection is the obtrusive method. It included both observation and interviews aided by the use of questionnaires. It was preferred to other methods because it gave the researcher an opportunity to avoid bias by interacting with participants and seeking clarification for unclear issues from them. The data collected was therefore substantive and complete. The sample was made up of 122 participants. A survey was conducted on various participants and designated stations of data collection. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to respondents all the respondents. Each questionnaire had both open ended and closed ended questions (McDougal 2006, 231). The questionnaires were administered in person by the researcher. Others were however sent by email because some respondents could not be traced. The researcher filled the questionnaires as the interviews were going on. Where some respondents could not be found, the researcher was forced to use telephones, email and other of similar methods to reach them. Many of the questions in the questionnaire were about the knowledge of the participants on sustainable transportation and their preference for the new ways of transportation. The questions also required them to talk about their comparison of sustainable and unsustainable transportation. The questionnaires carried 15 questions each. The questionnaire had two main sections. Section A had the questions requiring demographic related answers. This part had 6 questions that needed information about age, year of birth, marital status, gender, occupation, level of education, the number of members of the family and the income (McDougal 2006, 285). Section B was designed with 9 questions about the experience, knowledge and views of the respondent about sustainable transportation. Such questions were about the current use of sustainable transportation, perceived benefits and future prospects. Respondents were required to give explanations to their answers since the questions were open-ended. 3. Data collection results a) Descriptive information Frequency = N Percentage % Gender Male Female 36 86 30% 70% Age Less than 50 years Over 50 years 52 70 42% 58% Education High school Bachelor’s degree Masters 22 65 35 19% 53% 28% Marital status Married single 98 24 80% 20% Has children No children 90 32 73% 26% Working Not working 110 12 90% 9% With income No income 120 2 98% 2% Not a parent Parent 53 69 44% 56% Knew something about research topic Sustainable transportation 120 98% b) Qualitative data All the respondents interviewed confessed of having known and used unsustainable transportation driven means. Many of them associated sustainable transportation with no pollution of the environment and the use of renewable resources such as wind and water. Majority of the respondents confessed of not being ready to switch to sustainable transportation because it is an “unknown area.” They prefer using fossil fuel powered transport because according to them it is effectively driving the economies of the world. The lack of detailed information about the methods and use of sustainable transportation was cited by majority of the respondents. Very few respondents had in-depth knowledge about the efforts of the international community and their countries to enact and implement policies about sustainable transportation. Most of the respondents could not explain much beyond describing sustainable transportation. Many of the respondents confessed not having used sustainable transportation means. A half of the respondents expressed their eagerness and willingness to half sustainable transport replacing the current forms of transportation. These were the most educated from the sample with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. The other half of the sample cited interference with the economies of oil and gas producing countries if sustainable transportation should replace the current unsustainable transportation. 4. Problems and limitations of research The research was performed very well but this report will not be incomplete unless the limitations of the study are mentioned. The study was based on a small sample. Given that sustainable transportation is a global affair, the sample that the researcher used was not big enough to represent the whole world. A bigger sample would have been more representative (Winkler, & Metherell, 2011, 292). The size of the sample could compromise the quality of the entire research. The study was also limited by time since the time allocated for data collection was very short. Time became a limitation especially when issues such as the unavailability of important respondents arose. Another limitation in the study was the authenticity of the answers given by respondents. Some of the participants are believed not to have been genuine with their answers given that they are involved in the use of unsustainable transport methods. These inaccurate responses have the potential to compromise the quality and credibility of research results and eventual outcome. Another limitation that the researcher experienced and is believed to compromise research results is language barrier since the sample included people belonging to various language groups not speaking the researcher’s language (Betts, 2005, 67). 5. Proposed solution The problem of the sample can be solved through random sampling so that the respondents in that small sample can be as representative as possible of the various parts of the world. The results will just be extrapolated on the rest of the populations so that it can give a general analysis of the research question. The problem of shortage in time can be minimized through the use of phone calls. Interviews can be conducted through phone calls and even emails as long as the data is collected. This would ensure that the respondent does not need to meet the researcher in person to give their answers. The challenge of inaccuracy in the responses obtained from participants can be offset by critical analysis of the information to detect any answers that are not genuine. The researcher could also use the mood of the respondents (Winkler, & Metherell, 2011, 210). However the problem may not be dealt with totally given the difficulty in perceiving the lack of genuineness in information collected from the respondents. The problem of language barrier was a big stumbling block since the researcher was forced to use many interpreters in collecting the data. The interpreters however helped a lot in solving this problem. APPENDICES Appendix 1; (Time management Gantt chart) Activity Weeks Week beginning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Literature exploration Literature review writing Researching about methodology Writing the methodology Questionnaire design Collecting qualitative data Collection of data Analysis of data Analysis of data Writing report Submission of first draft Final draft revision and submission Appendix 2: Sample Questionnaire Part A 1. How old are you? Fill appropriately (………..) years. 2. What is your gender (………….) a) Male b) Female 3. What is your highest level of education? a) High school b) Bachelor’s degree c) Masters degree d) PhD 4. Marital status a) Male b) Female 5. Employment status a) Employed b) Unemployed b) Retired 6. What is your occupation? (…………….) 7. Do you own a car or cars? 8. If yes, what kind of fuel do you use in your car? Part B 1. What is sustainable transportation? 2. Do you prefer sustainable transportation to unsustainable transport? 3. Have you used sustainable transportation before? 4. What do your country and the International Community do to promote sustainable transportation? 5. What are the advantages of sustainable transportation over the use of fossil fuels? 6. How can sustainable transportation policies be implemented? 7. Do you think sustainable transportation will be adopted by all in the near future? 8. Do you think sustainable transportation has any problems? Bibliography Australian Government (2010). Sustainable Transport. Retrieved 23 Aug. 2010 from http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/transport/ Banister, D. Button, K.J. (1993) Transport, the Environment and Sustainable Development. Taylor & Francis. Betts, K. (2005) Writing Essays and Research Reports in the Social Sciences. MIT Press. Black, W.R. (2010). Sustainable Transportation: Problems and Solutions. Guilford Press. Green Energy Choice (2012). Fossil Fuels: How Do They Negatively Affect the Environment? Retrieved 23 Aug. 2012 from http://www.greenenergychoice.com/green-guide/fossil-fuels.html McDougal Littell (2006). Writing Research Reports. Routledge. Rietveld, P., Stough, R. (2005). Barriers to Sustainable Transport: Institutions, Regulations and Sustainability. Taylor & Francis. Ryan, L., Turton, H. (2007). Sustainable Automobile Transport: Shaping Climate Change Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing. Schiller, P.L., Bruun, E.C., Kenworthy, J.R. (2010) An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation: Policy Planning and Implementation. Earthscan. Winkler, A., & Metherell, A. (2011). Writing the Research Paper: A hand book. JHU Press. Read More