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
Ap
plie
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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