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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Name: Atiyya Shaw
School of Psychology Master's Thesis Defense Presentation
Date: Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Time: 3:00pm
Location: JS Coon 217
Advisor:
Professor James Roberts, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Thesis Committee Members:
Professor James Roberts, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Professor Susan Embretson, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Professor Michael P. Hunter, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Title: Applying Item Response Theory to Measure Drivers’ Perceived Complexity of Roadway Environments
Roadway environments constitute visually complex systems within which users make split-second critical decisions on a daily basis. As such, understanding transportation system user perception and performance across varied roadway environments is crucial for a broad array of transportation research and engineering purposes (e.g. understanding safety data trends, informing roadway design guidelines, etc.). This thesis applies item response theory (IRT) to identify and interpret the dimensions present that influence drivers’ perceived complexity of roadway environments. We find that a four dimensional polytomous Graded Response Model best measures this data, and were able to ascertain that participants’ perceived complexity ratings were most affected by their perception of freeway and urban environments, as well the visibility and traffic conditions of the particular roadway. This study enables not only an understanding of the factors that influence driver perception of the built environment, but demonstrates an application of multidimensional, polytomous IRT to study transportation system user perception, one of the first known implementations of multidimensional IRT within transportation engineering.
