Data mining techniques to analyze the factors influencing active commuting to school

Abstract

The health benefits of active commuting to school in children and adolescents have been widely researched in the last few years, and it is currently of interest to detect the factors that could influence active commuting in a positive or a negative way. In this study, data mining techniques were applied to a sample of 6979 students aged 5–20 years old from south-eastern Spain to analyze what factors influenced their commuting behavior. Several data mining techniques, such as association rules, decision trees, and cluster analyses, were used to examine these influences. The results proved that active commuting could be influenced by several factors. The main factor seemed to be the distance to school; a threshold between 1100 and 1600 m was the distance at which students changed from an active to a passive mode of commuting. We also detected that specific meteorological conditions could influence active commuting in some way. Finally, some factors such as older ages and living in urban areas (as opposed to rural areas) were associated with active modes of commuting. These results prove that data mining techniques are appropriate to further the knowledge in the active commuting field.

Keywords:

• Active commuting
• association rules
• cluster analysis
• data mining
• decision trees

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the multiple school officials, students, and their teachers and parents for their unconditional participation in this study without whom this project would not have been possible. We also acknowledge everyone who helped with the data collection and all the members involved in the field-work for their effort, enthusiasm and support. We are also grateful to Ms. Carmen Sainz-Quinn for assistance with the English language.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (DEP2016-75598-R, MINECO/FEDER, UE). Additionally, this study takes place thanks to funding from the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence; Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES).