THE PROJECT'S FIELD RESEARCHER WILL 'DRIVE WITH' THE OCCUPANTS OF EIGHTEEN DIFFERENT VEHICLES FOR A WEEK'S WORTH OF TYPICAL JOURNEYS. THE EIGHTEEN VEHICLES WILL BE CHOSEN ON THE BASIS OF MAXIMISING DIVERSITY IN RELATIONSHIP TO:

SOCIAL GROUPS (E.G. COLLEAGUES, FRIENDS, FAMILIES, CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS ETC.)

CAR TYPES (E.G. 2 SEATERS, MINIS, PEOPLE CARRIERS, ETC.)

OWNERSHIP (E.G. SOLELY OWNED, COMPANY CAR, FAMILY CAR, HIRE CAR, CAR COOPERATIVE ETC.)

THE 'DRIVING WITH' WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY A 'DRIVING WITHOUT' WEEK WHERE THE RESEARCHER WILL SET UP THE CAR FOR FILMING BUT WILL NOT JOIN THE VEHICLE FOR ITS JOURNEY. PAIRED SMALL MINIDV CAMCORDERS WILL BE USED TO RECORD THE EVENTS OF JOURNEYS AS THEY HAPPEN FROM FORWARD AND REARWARD PERSPECTIVES WITHIN THE CAR (THESE WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE FROM THE WEEK BEFORE). THIS METHOD WITH ITS VIDEO SET-UP WAS DEVELOPED BY LORENZA MONDADA FOR A PROJECT WITH PEUGOT. SHE HAS BEEN EXAMINING TALK AND GESTURES DURING CAR DRIVING.

PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER THE RECORDING AND WILL BE ABLE STOP FILMING AT ANY POINT OR HAVE SECTIONS OF TAPE ERASED, MOREOVER THEY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW AND CENSOR RECORDINGS AT A LATER DATE.

THE DATA GATHERED FROM THE EIGHTEEN VEHICLE CASE STUDIES WILL BE COLLECTIVELY ANALYSED BY THE PROJECT TEAM AT WEEKLY DATA SESSIONS COMMENCING DURING THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT. DESCRIPTIONS AND ANNOTATIONS WILL BE ATTACHED TO SELECTED FIELDWORK JOURNAL ENTRIES, INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS AND VIDEO CLIPS WHICH, IN TURN, WILL BE ADDED TO A PROJECT VIDEO CORPUS.

THE CORPUS WILL PROVIDE A SOURCE OF PRIMARY INFORMATION FOR THE TEAM, OTHER SOCIAL RESEARCHERS AND USER GROUPS. INTERIM REPORTS WILL BE DRAFTED TOWARD THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROJECT AND WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A WORKSHOP FOR PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS (E.G. SELECTED PARTICIPANTS, TRANSPORT RESEARCHERS, DESIGNERS, INDUSTRY MEMBERS AND POLICY EXPERTS) TO COMMENT ON THE PROJECT SO FAR AND TO CHART ITS COURSE OVER THE NEXT YEAR. AT THE END OF THE PROJECT A FULL REPORT WILL BE CIRCULATED AND A FINAL PROJECT WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD TO ASSIST IN THE DISSEMINATION AND IMPACT OF THE PROJECT. ALONGSIDE THE WORKSHOP THIS WEBSITE WILL BE CONSTANTLY UPDATED WITH PRIMARY RESEARCH MATERIAL, FINDINGS PAPERS, REPORTS, CONFERENCE PAPERS AND ACADEMIC ARTICLES.