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If Criticism is the Mother of Methodology,
Who Created Driving Simulation?
Jeff Caird, Associate Professor
Transportation Research BoardJanuary 13, 2004
On Empirical Methods
High quality research is the basis of scientific progress, and has the potential to decrease, and increase, traffic safety.
Certain methodological decisions leave research open to criticism and can weaken inferential claims.
Replication of Methods
Participants—Random Assignment, Representativeness, Individual Differences
Materials and Equipment—Measurement Precision, Adequacy of Description, EOM
Procedure—Critical Experimental Protocol, Through the Eyes of the Participant
Practical Constraints—Pub. Page Limits, Import. of Details, Proper Citation, $, Moore’s Law
Participants
• What are the important sample characteristics that need to be described to determine if a sample differs in some critical way between-subjects that could alternatively account for effects?
• ISO/TC22/SC13/WG8 N399: Age, Gender, Professional vs. Private, Driving Experience, Special Characteristics (Physical Otherwise)
• Education, Mental Status, Drug Use, Visual Performance, Licensed, Insured, Crashes, Moving Violations
Road & Traffic Flow Description
• Conformity Roadways to C-MUTCD
• Conformity to Everyday Driving (?)
• Traffic Density (vehicles/min, TOD)
• Proportion of Vehicle Types (SUV/Cars/Trucks)
Contributing Factors to Accidents at Intersections for Older Drivers
Caird, Edwards, Cresear & Horrey (2002)
Driver Performance and Colour Deficiency
The Ethics of Driving Simulation
Simulator Sickness
Negative Transfer
Psychological Trauma
Value of Research
Simulator Sickness & Older Drivers
• INRETS-60%
• TTI-75%
• U. Of Calgary-40%
• Is it ethical to knowingly use a device on olders drivers which will, most likely, make them ill?
• Are the sought after results worth the risk?
“Simulator Sickness” Dropout Issue
1. Screen with Pre-Simulator Sickness Questionnaire items (Kennedy et al., 1993) (% included, % excluded)
2. Experimenter criteria for stopping experiment: a) head movements, b) excessive swallowing, c) white sheet, d) sweating, e) slowed verbal responses. (% excluded, % included).
3. Do those who are included systematically differ in some way from those who are excluded?
4. Given a known relationship between falls and vestibular disturbances and falls and crash risk, do those who are excluded for vestibular “difficulties” have higher crash risk too?
Eye Movement Calibration and Data Loss
Ho, Scialfa, Caird, & Graw (2001)
Presbyopia: Age-Related Loss of Focal Range
Loss of Focus Range
Accommodation loss (presbyopia) makes it
increasingly difficult to focus near stimuli.
20-Year Old Eye 70-Year Old Eye
Kline, Caird, Ho, & Dewar (2002)
Display Adherence to Legibility Guidelines
Clarion AutoPC Joyride
Visteon Navmate
Bosch Integrated Display
BMW/NAVTECH
Discussion and Conclusions
Methodological weaknesses (omissions, comissions) lead to questionable results.
Describe participants, equipment and procedures adequately.
Report data loss, SAD, outliers, etc. appropriately.
Do complex measurement systems necessarily result an increases in confounding variables?
