Conducting research

Topics

The transportation research environment

Research steps Research proposal Writing thesis of dissertation proposal Project management Research project management

Funders of Transportation Research (not an all inclusive list) National Science Foundation University Fellowships and Grants Federal Agencies (FTA, FHWA, NHTSA, FAA, RSPA,

EPA, DOE, USDA, etc.) Transportation Research Board

NCHRP TCRP NCFRP

State DOT Research Program SPR Discretionary programs (Iowa Highway

Research Board) Office or division operating budgets and set-

asides Local agency funding

More

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Research funding – Style follows the money

Research funding may be provided by through a contract, a grant, or a gift

Gift – this is simply what it says – generally involves some type of understand of the what the gift is to be used for but does not include: A scope of services A schedule A description of outcomes

Follow-the-money continued Grants

Competitive awards are based on team qualifications and approach to issues addressed (not price).

Support research and provide certain limited controls: Provide specific goals and define the subject of

activities Almost always tied to a specific investigator –

although the agreement may be with researchers agency

They have no limits or minimal limits on the release of results, sharing of information

Little control over budget and schedule

Follow-the-money continued Research contracts

Competitive awards are based on team qualifications, approach to issues addressed, and work plan (no price).

Contracts support research but have very specific controls The contracting organization is looking for very

specific services or product from which they will benefit

The contracting organization not the Investigator establishes the scope and deliverables

The contracting agency is likely to control the dissemination of results

Contracts for professional services Competitive awards are based on team

qualifications, experience with the same or similar work, qualification of the contractor’s organization, approach to issues addressed, and work plan (no price or two envelops).

Contracts generally do not support research but many involve development Contracting organization tightly controls

negotiated services, schedule, and deliverables Tight controls on ownership of all intellectual

property Synchronized with other project development

activities

Contracts for services Competitive awards are based on team

qualifications, experience with the same or similar work, qualification of the contractor’s organization, work plan and price.

Contract terms are generally very tightly defined and, therefore, it will not support research. Contract budget, scope, and schedule

determined by contracting agency All results are the property of the contracting

agency

Schism As engineers and planners, we often confuse service

projects with professional service projects with research projects Service projects are things that we can define with a

performance or technical specification Professional project are generally doing some that we have

done before Design and develop timing plans for traffic signals Professional project must be synchronous with other related

events Research projects involve a specific topic that we have not

addressed before. Developing a model to describe the frequency and severity of

crashes at intersections with high-speed expressways Research projects create new, unknown information and,

therefore, need to be open ended.

Schism continued Emphasis to treat transportation research

like project development work Transportation research is generally:

Often highly applied, Often development work Often Technology transfer Seldom basic research

Professional services and research services generally follow similar contracting process

Project Steps

Conceptualization

Planning

Execution

TerminationPro

posa

l Phase

Pro

ject

Phase

The line moves upward as the project moves applied to basic and as funding vehicle moves contract to grant

Conceptualizing

Defining topic Literature review Determining gap in the literature Defining the problem

Establishing a hypothesis Defining theoretical model Defining risk

Setting goals

Planning Defining the research methodology Work plan

Scope and requirements Tasks Staffing Schedule

Deadlines milestones

Budget

Execution Project

management

Schedule

Budget

Resources

Hard-side management

Execution

Project management

Co-operation

Communication

Soft-side management

Team Building

Termination Results of the project

Measurement of success Comparison to the original goals

Attribution of success Authorship Peer review

Report Papers

What kind of professional development did the participants get out of the project

How to write a proposal for your personal research Lots of guides (one is on the CTRE web page) First steps

Determine and issue you want to work on: Working on a thesis may last 1 year Working on a dissertation may last several years

Identify a few issues Vet through your ideas with your major professor Schedule POS meeting with your committee

Present your interests – write an abstract Your proposed POS must support your ability to

achieve your research goals`

Next steps Discuss your topic with peers, faculty, and

outside professionals Read and record the literature

Develop a literature file (photo copied articles) Document and appropriately reference what you

read Once you are familiar with what has been

done you can begin to work Develop a firm understand of your

proposed topic with your major professor

Next steps

Starting to write your proposal Read another proposal Much of your proposal should form the

core of the first four chapters of the final document

Drafting document Start with literature review Review related literature and define holes

Next Step Develop the problem statement

Identify scope of the problem you are addressing Develop the research methodology

Identify a potential means for addressing the problem

Data collection required Methods to be used Develop a series of work tasks and schedule

Write your introduction Introduction to the topic Explain the importance of the topic

Next steps

Compare your proposal to the research proposal Rubric on CTRE’s web site

Give to your major professor to review and approve

Give to your committee and schedule a proposal meeting for two weeks later

How to write a research proposal In a competitive environment you will be

responding to an RFP (non-competitive later) The RFP will usually contain

Guidance on what the proposal should include and the sponsor even prescribe the sections of the proposal

Selection criteria Budget limits

At the basic research level, guidance is generally open-ended

At the applied research level, guidance is fairly specific

Problem statement Basic research – Grant program

Research topics must target innovative strategies for exploiting state-of-the-art information and information/communication technologies in surface transportation systems to meet the challenges and constraints associated with mobility.

Applied research - Contract ProgramThe objective of this project is to develop a guidebook that presents a

framework and cost-effective methods to predict, measure, and report travel time, delay, and reliability data from a customer-oriented perspective. The framework will address time of day, transit and highway, passenger and freight, vehicle and user types, and levels of aggregation (such as facility type, functional classification, and system/corridor/segment). The framework will also present and assess various data collection methods, analysis approaches, and applications that most effectively support transportation planning and decision making for capital and operational investments and for quality-of-service monitoring and evaluation. The methods should be presented in a useful manner for application in a range of settings and complexity.

Typical Section of a Research proposal Letter of Transmittal Executive Summary Introduction Understanding of the problem Methodology and tasks Schedule Budget and budget narrative Qualifications of the team Institutional data Resume Bibliography Appendix

Evaluation Matrix

Demon-strated Under-

standing

Merit of Approach

Experience of the Team

Ensure applicatio

n of results

Adequacy of facilities

Letter of Transmittal

Introduction

Understanding of the problem

Methodology

QualificationsOf Team

Institutional data

Characteristics of a winning proposal (Social Science Research Council)

Talk to as many of the individuals involved in the selection as possible Your proposal should never come as a surprise to the

sponsor Demonstration that you are highly familiar with

contemporary issues Capture reviewers attention

What are we going to learn? Why is it worth doing? How we know that conclusions are valid?

Aim for clarity What is the payoff Fresh approach Specify your objectives

Tom’s advise on proposal preparation Never promise what you can’t or are unlikely to

deliver Introduce new concepts through metaphors or story

telling Write in first person and be action oriented Don’t gloat on your own qualification

Corollary – make sure that the reader believes you have “been there done that”

Highlight innovative approach or superior qualification Make sure proposal passes the Andy Griffith test

Corollary – it does not hurt to be mildly repetitive Build a cause for each selection criteria

Task Development Most project can be broken into

phases, tasks, and subtasks Typical Phases (or tasks)

Project design Data collection and integration Data analysis and interpretation Recommendations and implementation Dissemination of findings and publication

plan Project close out

Phases can be further broken down into tasks and subtask Each task or subtask should have a specific output Project design phase

Task 1 Conduct Literature Review Output – Technical report documenting review

Task 2 Conduct Survey of Operating Output – Technical report document state of the

practice Task 3 Experimental design

Subtask 3.1 Develop measures of effectiveness Output – Technical report documenting MOEs

Subtask 3.2 Identifying scenarios for testing technology Output – Test designs

Subtask 3.3 Identifying test locations and agreements with test agencies

ETC.

From the task description develop schedule

Most small project are linear Large projects may involve parallel

activities Think about how long things will take

to accomplish Place person hours (or days or weeks)

by task

Task-time chart

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Carolyn Olson Project Manager 8 2 6 15 4 20 20 4 12 8 8 107

Lori Laflin Moderator/Data Processing 8 0 0 45 20 15 20 4 8 0 8 128

Interviewers Recruiting/Interviewing 0 0 0 120 0 550 0 16 0 0 0 686

Data Coders Editing/Coding/Data Entry 0 0 0 0 0 50 0 0 0 0 0 50

Supervisors Supervision 0 0 0 24 0 110 0 4 0 0 0 138

Administrative Clerical/Support 2 0 2 8 8 24 8 2 4 8 4 70

Tom Maze, Ph.D Transportation Eng. 8 24 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 0 75

Dennis Kroeger Trans. Research Specialist 8 60 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 0 168

0

Graduate Student Analysis 0 30 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 80

Administrative Staff Support 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 32

Publications Group Report Preparation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 8TOTAL 42 124 130 212 32 769 48 30 24 111 20 1542

CTRE Subcontract

Total

Tasks

Name Role

SchedulingTask

Week

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Kick-off Meeting X                                

Literature Review X X                              

Prepare Technical Memorandum and SDDOT Review

  X X                            

Conduct Focus Groups

    X X X                        

Prepare Technical Memorandum and SDDOT Review

        X X X                    

Conduct Surveys               X X X X            

Identify Key Issues and SDDOT Review

                    X            

Resolve Key Issues                       X          

Prepare Draft Report and SDDOT Review

                      X X X X    

Prepare Final Report                               X  

Prepare Presentation

                                X

Make Presentation                                 X

More sophisticated scheduling

Budgeting Degree of specifics depends on whether it

is a grant or a contract Public organization budgets include

Research labor Support labor Fringe benefits Other direct costs (supplies, travel, etc.) Overhead (usually 32% to 55%) Total – usually 1.5 to 2.3 multiplier of

researchers labor cost

Example budgetSafety Research Bonaza

Budget EstimateJanuar 1 through Deceber 31, 2004

Staff DetailFaculty Rate* # of hrs Salary Fringe

Fred Farley 55.92$ 500 27,960.58$ $6,906

Professional & Scientific StaffGreg Schmoo 20.26$ 800 16,208.46$ $4,781

Merit (Support) StaffSecretary/Acct Clerk 17.65$ 50 882.74$ $343

Student Research Assistants #R.A. Student (MS candidate) 1 @ 17.31$ 1040 18,000.00$ $1,764

Hourly students 1 @ 10.00$ 500 5,000.00$

Total Salary/Fringe benefits: $68,052 $13,795

Budget Summary by CategorySalaries/Hourly (from detail above) $68,052

Payroll Benefits (from detail above) $13,795

Equipment >$5,000 $0

Travel-Domestic $4,000

Supplies/Materials $500

Project supplies $500

Software $0

Subcontracts Subject to IDC (first $25,000) $0

NOT subject to IDC (amount over $25,000) $0

Other Direct Costs $4,100

Telecommunication Charges (basic, toll, data) $200

Computer Usage $0

Printing/Copying $400

Honoraria/Services $0

Communications Services (editing, web, publications)$3,500

Postage $0

Other (software licenses, leases, etc.) $0

TOTAL DIRECT COSTS $90,447

Indirect Costs @ 46.0% $41,606

TOTAL ALL COSTS $132,053

Budgets continued

Private sector budgets Labor rates (not salaries) Travel and special materials costs Overhead (commonly 135% to 200%) Plus a fee (profit) Total works out 2.5 to 4.0 multiplier

Project management Hundreds of books on project

management but few or none on research project management

Project management steps Initiation

Scope and requirements Planning

Task and work breakdown Predecessor relationships People, physical resources, and schedule

Project management continued Executing

Team building Controlling

Implementation and tracking Period project reviews Account processing and billing

Close out Project documentation Closing out of accounts

Thesis or dissertation research management Develop a schedule for project

Read ISU Thesis manual Identify milestones and deadlines for

accomplishment Identify any resources you will need help with and

deadline for when you will need them available Develop a calendar of dates for accomplishment Set a regular date to meet with your major

professor to discuss progress Weekly oral reports Monthly written reports

Research project management Different than managing a professional project Research management presents balance between

such seeming paradoxes as: Researchers require a great deal of autonomy Researchers are both cooperators and competitors Need for predictability of output versus the

unpredictability of research outcomes Making management decisions and lack of

management information and uncertainty Knowledge asymmetry The need to take risk versus the need to meet a

schedule

Core elements of project management

Technical structure Scheduling, financing, planning, and

controlling Human processes

Project management, co-operation, communication, and project culture

Key role of the project manager

Navigate the project through the conflicts between time, cost, and performance.

PM responsibilities Creation of final project results Internal management External management Project control

Closing out research project - thesis or dissertation Have you met your original objectives

Document in introduction Remember that your proposal scope is like a contract

Steps Provide draft to advisory committee

Schedule time for significant re-writes Revise until advisory committee is satisfied With advisory committee develop a plan for publication

of findings Provide revised draft to all advisory committee

members Offer to meet with each committee member in person to

discuss findings

Thesis or dissertation defense Allow each committee to review revised

draft for a minimum of two weeks Preparation for defense should include

Development of short overview of document Remember every one has already read the

document Rehearse presentation in front of colleagues

Be prepared to think on your feet Advertise defense and personally invite friend

and colleagues Be prepared for criticism

Research project dissemination Research etiquette

Always brief your sponsor on your findings before you discuss or publish your findings

If your sponsor disagrees with your findings Give them the opportunity to state their

argument Retest your findings If you still disagree, state their point of view in

all materials attributed to the project Always acknowledge the sponsor in all verbal

and written dissemination of findings Send sponsors papers related to the project

even long after the project is over

Research project dissemination

The report is only a limited distribution document

Target journals with interest in your topic

Divide findings into small and complete portions of the report, eg. A methodology paper A transportation policy paper