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Session Title: Infusing Evaluation Theory Into Practice in Government Safety Programs: Process Examples From the United States Department of Transportation
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Panel Session 736 to be held in CROCKETT D on Saturday, Nov 13, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM
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Sponsored by the Government Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Michael Quinn Patton, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, mqpatton@prodigy.net
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| Discussant(s):
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| Joyce Ranney, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, joyce.ranney@dot.gov
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| Abstract:
Al Roth, a Harvard economist, once said "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is a great deal of difference." In evaluation, quality is what differentiates theory from practice. This session chronicles how teams of professional evaluators have endeavored to support quality evaluation in three transportation safety programs and communicate evidence-based messages to their respective constituencies. This panel session will discuss what happened when theory was put into practice at different phases of three transportation safety programs. The goal of quality was represented by the attention given to intended use by intended users during the program process, rather than in retrospect to program implementation. All three programs aimed for effective utilization of the knowledge they had amassed. Presenters will share a few remarkable successes along with "other" lessons learned.
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Planning for Quality: Creating an Evaluation-Focused Safety Council for the United States Department of Transportation
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| Michael Coplen, United States Department of Transportation, michael.coplen@dot.gov
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| Stephen Popkin, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, stephen.popkin@dot.gov
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In October, 2009 Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood created a newly formed U.S. Department of Transportation Safety Council to tackle critical transportation safety issues facing the department's 10 operating administrations. It's mission is "to serve as DOT's safety advocate and to bring together each part of DOT in addressing transportation safety as a critical national health issue." Its guiding principles reveal its evaluative underpinnings, including: systematic data-driven decision-making, open and frank dialog, and a transparent process. From its inception, a utilization-focused evaluation approach was taken emphasizing stakeholder engagement strategies to help ensure cross modal collaboration among senior level decision makers, resulting in the identification and prioritization of high priority cross modal safety topics needing to be addressed.
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Promoting Positive Utilization of Risk Analysis Findings
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| Juna Snow, Innovated Consulting, jsnow@innovatedconsulting.com
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| Debbie Bonnet, Fulcrum Corporation, dbonnet@fulcrum-corp.com
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Switching Operations Fatality Analysis (SOFA) is conducted by a group of ten representatives of labor, management, and government who have evolved a high-quality methodology for identifying possible contributing factors and extenuating circumstances involved in individual deaths. They issued reports of aggregate findings and associated recommendations in 1999 and 2004. In spite of extensive dissemination efforts, the group was disappointed in the railroad industry's response - in particular, the translation of recommendations into punitive-based rules, antithetical to the spirit of their intended use - promoting safe choices to save lives. As they prepared for another report in 2010, the group requested the assistance of a utilization-focused evaluation team.
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From Research to Practice: The Utility of Evaluation With International Fatigue Management Conference in Transportation
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| Michael Coplen, United States Department of Transportation, michael.coplen@dot.gov
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| Stephen Popkin, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, stephen.popkin@dot.gov
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Conferences that focus on specific issues within a profession present opportunities for awareness and convergence of new ideas. The International Conference on Fatigue Management in Transportation (March 2009, Boston) brought together over 275 industry leaders, academicians, government policy makers, and transportation professionals. This presentation will discuss the lessons learned when the theory and methods of evaluation were introduced to researchers and developers of fatigue management interventions. The strategy involved aligning individual evaluators with a conference strand to observe sessions and report to a conference-closing symposium assertions about the ways and the extent to which evaluation theory and tools could provide value-added to the R&D work presented at the conference. This presentation will share reflections on the resistance raised by the conference attendees and the barriers that emerged relating to the utility of evaluation in that context.
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