{
  "studyId": "trucking-websites-2026",
  "title": "We Analyzed 100 Trucking Company Websites - Here's What We Found",
  "methodologyVersion": 3,
  "status": "methodology-locked-collection-not-started",
  "studyStartDate": "2026-08-15",
  "studyEndDate": null,
  "targetSampleSize": 100,
  "geography": "United States",
  "population": "Active U.S. property-carrying trucking or transportation companies with an independently verifiable public company website",
  "samplingFrame": {
    "source": "FMCSA Company Census File",
    "datasetId": "az4n-8mr2",
    "officialUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Trucking-and-Motorcoaches/Company-Census-File/az4n-8mr2",
    "snapshotDate": "2026-08-15",
    "sourceDataLastUpdated": "2026-07-29",
    "sourceFileName": "company-census-active-us-authorized-for-hire-2026-08-15.csv",
    "sourceFileChecksumSha256": "1c110fb0f49e82909b6d39249b109de2a4ae9b2dcaf8d6939f7b2ca170d4de0e",
    "sourceApiFilter": "status_code='A' AND phy_country='US' AND classdef LIKE '%AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE%'",
    "selectionMethod": "Freeze a dated FMCSA Company Census File snapshot; filter it using the locked carrier eligibility rules; retain records whose public FMCSA contact field supplies a non-consumer corporate domain; sort candidates by USDOT number; rank each candidate by SHA-256(randomSeed + ':' + USDOT number); independently verify that the domain resolves to the company's official trucking/transportation website; then review in ascending hash order until 100 eligible unique websites have been coded. Email addresses themselves are processed transiently and are not saved.",
    "randomSeed": "bluerock-trucking-web-study-2026-v1",
    "replacementRule": "Log every excluded or unreachable candidate and its reason, then continue to the next candidate in deterministic hash order. No discretionary replacement is allowed."
  },
  "inclusionCriteria": [
    "The FMCSA snapshot identifies the entity as an active U.S. property carrier.",
    "The entity is a trucking or transportation operating company rather than only a broker, freight forwarder, passenger carrier, government entity, directory, or software vendor.",
    "A unique official public company website can be independently verified from public evidence.",
    "The FMCSA public contact record supplies a non-consumer corporate domain, which independently resolves to the entity's official public trucking/transportation website.",
    "The website is publicly reachable during the collection window."
  ],
  "exclusionCriteria": [
    "Inactive, pending, broker-only, freight-forwarder-only, passenger-only, or government entity.",
    "Social profile, marketplace listing, directory page, parked domain, or login-only property rather than an official company website.",
    "Duplicate domain, duplicate operating company, or a brand already represented in the eligible sample.",
    "No non-consumer corporate domain in the frozen FMCSA public contact record, or the supplied domain cannot be independently verified as the company's official website.",
    "Website unavailable after two attempts on separate collection days."
  ],
  "collection": {
    "mode": "Evidence-backed review of public website structure",
    "dateCheckedTimezone": "UTC",
    "reviewersRequired": 2,
    "independentDoubleCodeMinimum": 20,
    "allowedBinaryValues": ["yes", "no", "unknown", "not-applicable"],
    "evidenceRule": "Every measured value must include a concise factual evidence note and the inspected public URL. Unknown and not-applicable values require a reason and may not silently become no.",
    "privacyRule": "Do not collect employee personal data, personal email addresses, employee phone numbers, driver personal data, non-public data, or data behind login walls.",
    "performanceRule": "Performance values may be reported only from the frozen collection procedure with tool, run date, tested URL, device profile, and category thresholds recorded. They are lab observations, not field Core Web Vitals."
  },
  "measuredParameters": [
    "httpsPresent", "mobileResponsive", "readableMobileNavigation", "visiblePhone", "visibleContactMethod", "contactPage", "clearCompanyLocation", "aboutPage", "servicesPage",
    "primaryCtaAboveFold", "quoteCta", "quoteForm", "phoneCta", "contactForm", "clearServices", "clearGeographicCoverage", "strongValueProposition", "testimonials", "trustIndicators",
    "careersSection", "applyNowCta", "driverApplication", "benefitsInformation", "fleetEquipmentInformation", "hiringRequirements", "homeTimeInformation", "payInformation",
    "dotMcInformation", "yearsInBusiness", "certificationsAssociations", "realCompanyImagery", "physicalAddress", "privacyPolicy", "socialProfiles",
    "clearNavigation", "excessiveNavigation", "mobileMenuQuality", "textReadability", "ctaClarity", "obviousBrokenLayout", "intrusivePopups", "accessibilityBasics",
    "mobilePerformanceCategory", "lcpCategory", "clsCategory", "pageWeightCategory", "obviousOversizedImages", "autoplayVideo"
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "percentageRule": "For every percentage publish numerator, known-value denominator, eligible-study denominator, and percentage. Round to one decimal place unless the value is an integer.",
    "correlationRule": "Test only prespecified feature relationships with sufficient known observations. Report association, effect size, and uncertainty; never describe correlation as causation or imply measured conversions.",
    "minimumForPublication": 100,
    "publicationBlockedUntil": [
      "100 eligible unique websites are present",
      "sampling-frame snapshot and checksum are saved",
      "all rows pass schema and traceability checks",
      "duplicates and exclusions are reconciled",
      "all findings and charts are generated from the locked dataset",
      "human factual review marks the study Ready"
    ]
  },
  "limitations": [
    "The sampling frame covers active eligible FMCSA carriers with a non-consumer corporate domain in the public contact record; carriers using consumer email services or omitting a corporate domain are not represented.",
    "The sample is deterministic and reproducible but is not a probability sample of every U.S. trucking company.",
    "The study evaluates publicly observable website features, not the companies' operations, quality, safety, or legal compliance.",
    "The study does not measure actual conversion rates, lead quality, hiring outcomes, revenue, or causality.",
    "Websites and performance characteristics can change after the recorded review date.",
    "Some features may be unknown because of availability, consent walls, bot defenses, or ambiguous implementation.",
    "Lab performance categories, if collected, are not field Core Web Vitals."
  ],
  "changeLog": [
    {
      "version": 1,
      "date": "2026-08-15",
      "change": "Initial 15-field research protocol created before collection.",
      "reason": "Establish a reproducible FMCSA-based sampling and evidence framework."
    },
    {
      "version": 2,
      "date": "2026-08-15",
      "change": "Expanded the locked codebook to cover the full commissioned basic quality, conversion, recruiting, trust, UX, and performance criteria; added canonical requested paths and explicit publication gates.",
      "reason": "The complete commissioned specification was received before any sites were sampled or coded. Dataset observation count remained zero."
    },
    {
      "version": 3,
      "date": "2026-08-15",
      "change": "Defined the reproducible website-bearing sampling frame as active eligible carriers with a non-consumer corporate domain in the frozen FMCSA public contact record; email addresses are processed transiently and discarded.",
      "reason": "Public search interfaces became non-reproducible under systematic candidate review. This operational change was made before any website feature observations or aggregate outcomes were recorded, and its coverage bias is disclosed as a limitation."
    }
  ]
}