Appendix A: Amplifying Questions
To facilitate meeting discussions at the host organizations, the team developed a list of detailed questions that were submitted to the organizations visited before the team's arrival. The questions are organized by the four primary themes of the team's interest. Note: as the scan team prepared its report and implementation items, it determined that the phrase "setting the research agenda" was more effectively worded as "establishing or developing the research framework." The amplifying questions reflect the former wording, while the report and implementation discussion use the more recent wording.
1. Setting the Research Agenda—Practices used to determine where to put the emphasis and effort to solve current problems and emerging issues on local, national or federal, and international levels
- 1.1 Have research programs found ways to identify and actively address consensus research agendas?
- 1.1.1 How does your research program identify and establish a strategic research agenda that is supported by all stakeholders? What are the mechanisms used?
- 1.1.2 How does your research program identify and prioritize transportation research needs within agencies, localities, and countries and with other countries to address national priorities as well as agency goals and objectives?
- 1.1.3 Who participates in forming the research agendas?
- 1.1.4 Are there opportunities for top-down and bottom-up contributions to the research agendas? If yes, how is this accomplished?
- 1.1.5 What percentage of the overall investment in transportation does research represent? How is this determined?
- 1.1.6 Does your research program add intermodal coordination to the research agenda and, if yes, how is this done?
- 1.1.7 Do you select the research agenda to include aspects related to other nontransport areas, such as public health, economic development, and global competition? If so, to what extent?
- 1.2 How is a portfolio of research projects established to comprise the research program?
- 1.3 Does the research program contain projects that address short-term and long-term research needs? If yes, is there a predetermined amount of each type (number of projects or level of funding), and how are these projects identified and prioritized?
- 1.4 Does the research program contain projects that address varying levels of risk (e.g., high-risk, low-risk)? If yes, is there a predetermined amount of each type (number of projects or level of funding), and how are these projects identified and prioritized?
- 1.5 Does the research program contain projects that address a variety of research topics (e.g., technical topics, policy issues, multimodal, other areas)? If yes, is there a predetermined amount of each type (number of projects or level of funding), and how are these projects identified and prioritized?
- 1.6 Does the research program contain projects that address ad hoc or quick-response research activities for meeting emergency or immediate needs? If yes, is there a predetermined amount of each type (number of projects or level of funding), and how are these projects identified and prioritized?
- 1.7 Does the research program contain basic and applied research projects? If yes, what is the level of commitment to each type? If no, what is the reason for the current commitment to either basic or applied research activity?
- 1.8 What scope does the research program address – national level, state or regional level, local level, or a mix of the three? What is the commitment to each level addressed and why?
- 1.9 What is the source of research funding and how are research budgets established and developed for agency programs and for major national research activities?
- 1.9.1 What trends, if any, have been observed over the last decade on availability of research funding?
- 1.9.2 What other uses compete for transportation research funding?
- 1.9.3 What role do performance measures have in establishing funding levels and priorities for research?
- 1.10 What methods are used to reduce duplication of research effort?
- 1.11 What processes are used to maximize synergy with other research programs?
2. Partnerships and Joint Research Activities— Methods of cooperation that are an effective means to enhance technical capacity and increase fiscal and other resources required for research
- 2.1 How does your program establish and use partnerships for research within the agencies, localities, and countries; with other countries; and with industry and academia? What kinds of partnerships and examples of joint research activity are most beneficial and why?
- 2.1.1 Please describe the types of partnerships used and their formation, participants, structure, function, performance, funding, and results. How do partnerships produce value?
- 2.1.2 Please provide examples of joint research activities, describing their creation, participants, process, and benefits.
- .1.3 Does your agency consider private industry a partner?
- 2.1.4 How does your government impact the use of partnerships in accomplishing research?
- 2.2 What opportunities do partnerships or joint research provide?
- 2.2.1 Does your program maximize or enhance resources through the use of partnerships and joint research activities? If so, how is this done?
- 2.2.2 Do you find that partnerships and joint research provide for more efficient use of research funds? If yes, how is this accomplished?
- 2.2.3 What is the level of participation of academic institutions in the research performed by your agency, and do these institutions have a role in fostering education in the transportation arena?
- 2.2.4 Do partnerships allow enhanced implementation of research results or innovation and deployment activities? If yes, how is this accomplished?
- 2.3 What barriers are there to forming partnerships and joint research activities? What techniques are used to overcome these barriers?
- 2.4 How are proprietary issues and intellectual property rights addressed with partners (e.g., industry, consultants, academic institutions, others)?
- 2.5 How can joint activity and coordination of research between country or multicountry programs and the United States be fostered and increased?
3. Conduct of Research: Performance, Quality, and Value—Tools and processes used to measure the performance, quality, and value of research programs and projects
- Performance and Quality—Program Level
- 3.1 How are program quality and value determined and measured and then communicated to stakeholders?
- 3.2 How are intangible benefits of program value included, such as stronger relationships or increased resources (e.g., funds, staff, facilities)?
- 3.3 What techniques are used to measure and improve program performance?
- 3.4 How is innovation measured?
- Performance and Quality—Project Level
- 3.5 Are performance measurements and evaluation efforts applied at the project level? What mechanisms are used? Are tangible and intangible benefits from research measured? (e.g., tangible, such as dollars saved, and intangible, such as workforce development)
- 3.6 How is quality addressed in the selection of researchers for the conduct of research?
- 3.7 Who performs the research sponsored by your organization?
- 3.8 How are time delays, cost overruns, and other challenges in the conduct of research addressed, and how are they mitigated?
- 3.9 Before research is initiated, what types of literature searches are conducted?
- Staffing
- 3.10 What is the staffing level of your organization? (If available, please provide an organization chart showing the staffing.)
- 3.11 What are the roles and responsibilities of the research administrative personnel?
- 3.12 How is the research administrative and technical staff expertise maintained?
- 3.13 What resources are available and used to train professionals in both the conduct and administration of research?
- Information Management and Access
- 3.14 How do researchers that perform your agency's research use knowledge management systems and libraries? (Knowledge management comprises a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge.)
- 3.15 What knowledge management systems and libraries are available to the researchers and how accessible are they?
- 3.16 What mechanisms are used to make others in the research community aware of your agency's in-progress research projects?
- 3.17 What mechanisms are used to share results of research within the research community, with other stakeholders, with prospective users, and with the public?
- 3.18 How can the U.S. research program facilitate or increase access to international research results and also facilitate access to its research results by international programs?
4. Delivery: Getting Research Results into Widespread Practice—Keys to enhancing the effectiveness of deployment and increasing the use of research results
- Program or Agency Actions
- 4.1 How does your government impact the administration and implementation (getting results put into practice) of research?
- 4.2 How does your organization's leadership ensure that research results are integrated into the agency's business practices?
- 4.3 How is funding provided for implementation or deployment activities, and how is the amount determined?
- 4.4 Does your agency identify and accept products and methods developed by the private sector or academia and put them into practice? If yes, what are the procedures for accomplishing this?
- 4.5 How are research results used to formulate effective policy?
- 4.6 What is your forum for sharing new research results internationally?
- Project-Level Actions
- 4.7 What are the processes or mechanisms used to put beneficial research results into practice so that their deployment produces a change in standard practice?
- 4.8 Are incentives used to facilitate putting research results into practice and, if so, what are they and how do they work?
- 4.9 Are innovative contracting procedures an aid to speed or foster getting results into practice? If so, what types of procedures are most beneficial?
- 4.10 Do specific institutional arrangements contribute to adoption of changed practice? What are some of the most productive arrangements?
- 4.11 Is there a training component to increase the knowledge of the users of the research results? If yes, what types of training are performed?
- 4.12 Who participates in getting research results put into practice?
- 4.13 How is success of implementing a new technology or innovation measured (e.g., the percentage of the affected parties using the innovation, dollars saved, other methods)?
- 4.14 What challenges do you face in your efforts to get research results put into practice, and how do you define success? What lessons have you learned from unsuccessful efforts?