Form MCSA-5880 Qualitative Discussion Guide One-on-one In Depth Intervi

Qualitative: Drivers
10/23/12

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

OMB Control Number: 2126-XXXX
Expiration Date:

MCSA-5880
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure
to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information
displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is 2126-XXXX. Public reporting for this
collection of information is estimated to be approximately 30 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering the
data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are voluntary and
confidentiality will be provided to the extent allowed by law. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Information Collection Clearance Officer, Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration, MC-RRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20590-0001.

Survey Research to Support Revisions to the Agency’s
Electronic Onboard Recorder (EOBR) Rule
Qualitative Discussion Guide
One-on-one In Depth Interview with Drivers
Main Questionnaire

I want to thank you again for your time, and remind you that this discussion is for research purposes only.
And that as compensation for your time, we will send you a check for $25.
Before we begin, can you give me some background information about your job? (Do not ask about how
hours are recorded, that was obtained in the recruitment. Probe for information such as whether
employed by carrier/independent owner operator/lease truck, paid by hour or by mileage, typical
route [distance, other states, etc.], type of freight, size of truck], how many trucks in company
fleet.)
1.

What, if anything, do you like about your job? (Probe for additional aspects and specifics.)

2.

And what, if anything, do you dislike about your job? (Probe for additional aspects and
specifics.)

3.

How would you describe your relationship with management? (Probe for additional aspects and
specifics.)

4.

4.Has management ever asked you to do anything which put your health or well-being at risk?
(Probe for additional aspects and specifics.)

5.

Has management ever asked you to do anything which could have led to you working more hours
than the law allows? (Probe for specifics.)

6.

Have you ever chosen, on your own, to work more hours than the law allows? (Probe for
specifics.)

7.

If have worked more hours than allowed by law: When you’ve been on duty for more hours
than the law allowed, how was that handled with the record keeping? (Probe for specifics.)

8.

Looking back at your dealings with management, have there been any occasions when you think
they might have harassed you over your work? (If respondent asks what meant by harassment,
tell him it is as he interprets it.) (Probe for specifics.) What did they say? What did they want
you to do? How often does that occur?

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Qualitative: Drivers
10/23/12
9.

If experienced something they consider harassment: In your view what about it constituted
harassment? (Probe: Was it what they were asking? The frequency? Tone? Potential
consequences?)

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Qualitative: Drivers
10/23/12
10.

We’re speaking to a number of drivers, and have heard a variety of opinions. I’m going to read you
a list of driver experiences, and I’d like you to tell me which of them, if any, you would consider
harassment if management asked them of you. Management…
Schedules:
Ask you to meet a customer load schedule you viewed as unrealistic
Ask a customer to adjust a load schedule so it was realistic for you
Fatigue:
Ask you to operate when you judged you were fatigued
Ask that you shut down if you felt fatigued
Logging and breaks:
Ask you to log inaccurately to get more work time or delay a break
Ask you to log accurately when you could have had more work time or delayed a
break by being inaccurate
Change your log record after it was made to give you more work time or delay a
break
Ask you to take sufficient time off duty to recover from fatigue
Communications:
Interrupt your off-duty time with a message that woke you up
Contact you promptly about a new job task so you didn’t have to wait without pay
Paid and Unpaid Time:
Pay you for customer delays in picking up or delivering freight
Require you to wait for customer delays for more than two hours without pay
Arrange your loads so you had little delay time between loads
Require you to wait between loads for more than two hours without pay.

11.

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In a typical month, do you, yourself, experience each of these? Management…
Schedules:
Asks you to meet a customer load schedule you viewed as unrealistic
Asks a customer to adjust a load schedule so it was realistic for you
Fatigue:
Asks you to operate when you judged you were fatigued
Asks that you shut down if you felt fatigued
Logging and breaks:
Asks you to log inaccurately to get more work time or delay a break
Asks you to log accurately when you could have had more work time or delayed
a break by being inaccurate
Changes your log record after it was made to give you more work time or delay a
break
Asks you to take sufficient time off duty to recover from fatigue
Communications:
Interrupts your off-duty time with a message that woke you up
Contacts you promptly about a new job task so you didn’t have to wait without
pay
Paid and Unpaid Time:
Pays you for customer delays in picking up or delivering freight
Requires you to wait for customer delays for more than two hours without pay
Arranges your loads so you had little delay time between loads
Requires you to wait between loads for more than two hours without pay.

12.


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Are there other things they do to you which you consider harassment? (Probe for specifics.) Do
they happen in a typical month?

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10/23/12
13.

If you haven’t complied with management’s requests or if you’ve pushed back, have there been any
consequences? (Probe for specific: make sure you get the request that was made, connected
to the consequence.)

14.

Has management ever used your service logs or records to argue for you working longer hours or
taking on additional work? (Probe for specifics.)

IF USER AND R9=“PART OF A SYSTEM WITH OTHER CAPABILITIES,” ASK Q15.
15. Did your company need to use anything in addition to just the logs in order to make that happen?
(Probe if doesn’t come up:) Did they need real time communications, or GPS, something of that
nature? (What?)
16.

Have their requests or consequences had any impact on other aspects of your life outside of your
job? (Probe for specifics.)

17.

Do you think that would be different if your hours of service were being recorded using some other
method? (What kind of method? How would it be different?)

18.

Some truck drivers are concerned that devices which automatically log their service hours
electronically will allow management to harass its drivers. Can you think of anything which could be
done to prevent that, either in the technology or the processes? (Probe for specific harassing
behavior and remedies.)

If “USER”, ASK 19.
19. Have you ever had any problem producing your electronic logs of your hours for a law enforcement
agent or officer?
ASK ALL 20.
20. One of the objectives of our discussion is to understand the language and words that drivers like
you use to refer to various systems used to track drivers’ hours. When you think about the systems
that automatically log hours when the truck starts or stops or when a driver forces it on manually,
what do you call them?
IF THE RESPONDENT HAS NOT MENTIONED THE TERM “EOBR,” ASK ABOUT FAMILIARITY
WITH THE TERM AND USE. HAS (S)HE EVER HEARD THE TERM? KNOW WHAT IT IS? USE THE
TERM?

Obtain information on who to make the check out to and where to send it. Thank and end
interview.

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