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Communicating the Value of Transportation Research
Table 2: Key Audiences for Transportation Research
Potential Benefits of
Audience
Communication Objectives Communication
Research Program Ensure continued funding and support. Increases acceptance of the research program
Managers Communicate technical aspects of research. across the field.
Form partnerships for collaboration or coalitions. Increases the ability to leverage existing resources.
Congress, Explain the significance of research. Introduces legislation that benefits the field.
Legislators, and Staff Demonstrate benefits to constituency. Increases the potential to gain governmental
Link spending to research outcomes. funding for research.
Policy Makers Document a real need for research. Implements action recommended by
Explain the benefits of the research or program. the research.
Demonstrate the success of the program. Adopts new products and processes.
Media Publicize the need for research. Increases exposure for the program.
Publicize the benefits through success stories. Puts research on public's "radar."
Reach a broad audience. Highlights a need for change or benefits of a
practice or product.
Public Explain research findings in non-technical terms. Creates a better informed public.
Show the importance of research to daily life. Creates community-level support for initiatives.
Communicating with Research Applying the Communication Process
Program Managers Context: Research program
managers (your own or
When and Why others) are often the "in-
Communicate frequently with research program house" decision makers
managers; these are often research peers and who either authorize or
implementers of products or processes who need reject research proposals
to stay current with research trends and findings. or products on an
Consistent communication with this audience organizational level.
will help your work become an influential and Support from research Communication Process
relevant force in the field. Communicating with program managers is
research program managers may provide the crucial to gaining widespread acceptance of
added benefit of helping to find and establish your research in the field or industry where you
relationships with programs whose research goals operate.
are similar to your own. By creating coalitions
and leveraging resources, these partnerships Strategy: When communicating with research
help you advance a common agenda or work program managers, highlight how your
toward a shared goal that would be difficult, time- research will help them meet their own research
consuming, or costly to accomplish on your own. objectives. Relate projects to the agency's
mission and goals, as well as to customer needs.
Programs may not have the time or budget to
take on entirely new projects, so demonstrating
"Consistent communication will help the fit between projects is essential. Effective
communication with program managers can also
your work become an influential and lead them to adopt your tested methods or
relevant force in the field." products, so keeping this audience updated
on your findings should be a priority of your
communication plan.
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Putting It All Together
Content: Because research program managers are form of fact sheets and PowerPoint presentations.
familiar with the industry, and because they often Finally, make use of the web by including links to
decide whether or not to accept your findings those fact sheets, and archive full research reports
or adopt your process, you can communicate for easy access by other researchers and program
more of the intricate points of your research to managers.
them. While the technicalities of study design, the
specifications of projects or products, or complex Style: Bulleted summaries of research findings
statistical analyses are not appropriate for every are useful, but your document should also
audience, they can enhance communication with make complete research reports accessible to
research program managers. program managers by including references
to any published findings and by listing your
Channels: A wide variety of channels may be current contact information in the summary.
used to communicate with program research Communication with program managers
managers, and many channels will likely be used and research peers is often direct and
simultaneously. Face-to-face communication is professional. This is true of both written and oral
important to help form relationships and gain communication. Demonstrate your expertise to
access to program managers, so connect with program managers, but do so in a way that keeps
peers at panels or workshop sessions. Have strong you and your projects accessible to others.
summaries of your research prepared in the
Adaptive Control Software Lite Case Study
Communication with research program managers was important to the
implementation of Adaptive Control Software (ACS) Lite. The project,
developed by researchers at FHWA/Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center,
provided a "self-teaching" software system that regulates traffic-signal timing
through the use of real-time information obtained throughout the day. It is
designed for the existing traffic signals in large cities. Though the software is
successful at relieving traffic congestion, it is costly.
Based on its understanding of the context and the needs of suburban program managers,
the research team was able to offer some program managers the ACS Lite software for free.
In return, these industry players would pay half of the development costs for the "bridging"
software required to make existing software compatible with ACS Lite. The acceptance of this
offer led to the adoption of ACS Lite by communities in Ohio, Texas, and Florida. Researchers
have continued to gather data and assess the performance of ACS Lite to communicate the
value of the software to other program managers.
