AASHTO Task Force on Administration

SCOR/RAC Website Working Group

Wednesday, July 17th and Thursday, July 18th

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

MEETING NOTES

Participants: Cynthia Gerst, Chris Hedges, Natassja Linzau, Leni Oman (Wednesday only), Sue Sillick, Mary Moulton (Thursday only), Allison Hardt, Skip Paul, Stephen Pepin, Amy Schutzbach, Rick Kreider, and James Watkins (Thursday only)

The following decisions and action items were approved:

General:

  • The previous meeting notesfrom June 25, 2013,were approved.
  • Links to the state DOT fact sheets will include the date they were last reviewed by the DOT(or the date they were received by Natassja, whichever can be found). States will be asked to confirm the dates and will be polled annually for updates.
  • For states that have not yet submitted a fact sheet, a link will be provided to the DOT’s research office.
  • “Research recommendations for reauthorization” will be removed fromthe "About SCOR" page and linked from a more appropriate section of the site, not yet determined.
  • Natassja will investigate greater use of icons for products of the website, particularly the Peer Exchange Reports database and RAC Surveys database.

Guidelines for RAC Surveys (See Attached)

  • In the guidelines, the second paragraph will be changed to “Once completed, the surveys and survey results should be posted…”
  • In item 1 of the guidelines, include a bullet for the target audience(s).
  • Indicate in the guidelines that surveys of committees other than RAC can be posted if the information would be of interest to the RAC community.
  • Add this item to the guidelines:When RAC members distribute a survey, they should make it clear in the initial email if they do not plan to make the results publicly available on the SCOR/RAC website. If the survey results contain sensitive information, they can be distributed directly to RAC members via the listserv or through an email contact.
  • Include a link to the survey guidelines within the listserv etiquette document Item #9 is surveys and the survey guidelines link should be early in the paragraph.
  • With these changes, the guidelines can now be posted.

RAC Surveys Database

  • The second-level menu for survey results will be deleted. The first-level link will be called “RAC Surveys.”
  • Natassja will create a page titled “RAC Surveys” that will include the following items: Guidelines for RAC Surveys, How to Search the Surveys Database, Spreadsheet of Pending Surveys, and Link (Icon?) to RAC Surveys Database.
  • Natassja will develop a spreadsheet to monitor the status of pendingsurveys to help follow-up when the results are available for posting. This spreadsheet will be updated when new surveys are emailed to the listserv and will be posted on the RAC Surveys page, as mentioned above.
  • As a future task, the working group will look for good general information on survey design that can be posted on the site.
  • The subject category search field for the surveys currently searches keywords in the title. There was discussion whether or not to classify the surveys according to some established taxonomy such as the NCHRP subject categories, TRB publication categories, TRB RSS feed categories, etc. TKN agreed to review this issue and offer suggestions. NTL digital librarian Mary Moulton has agreed to lead this effort.
  • AASHTO staff will be asked to consider the development of a centralized repository of survey results from all AASHTO committees, or at the very least we will inform them that we would like to (or we will?) list results from other committees’ surveys in our database.

Peer Exchange Reports Database

  • The second-level menu will be deleted. The main page will have links to “Search Peer Exchange Reports”(Icon?), “Instructions for Searching,” “Guidance” (the current FHWA guidelines), and “Additional Guidance.” The main page will be titled “Peer Exchanges” and will become the landing page which will be linked to from the main navigation menu.

A.The links for the main page will be taken from the current Peer Exchange Program page (

B.The following links will be placed under the “Guidance” heading: link to FHWA's SP&R Guide for Peer Exchanges (June 2010)

C.The following links will be placed under the “Additional Guidance” heading:

FHWA Peer Exchange Training Program

2005 Revised Presentation--Peer Exchange.ppt

Documenting Peer Exchange Administrative Experiences (1998)

Peer Exchange: A Value-Added Management Tool(2001)

Peer Exchange Special Task Force Recommendations to FHWA

Peer Exchange Special Task Force Survey Results

  • The instructions for searching peer exchange reports are currently available in both PDF and HTML format. One of these formats should be deleted. It was decided to delete the HTML and only link to the PDF version, to simplify.
  • The search field for participants includes duplicates if they have different affiliations attached to their name; for example, there are results for both “Larry Klepner” and “Larry Klepner, Chair”. It was agreed to remove the affiliation from the participants’ names. Also, participants’ names are not consistent across the peer exchange reports and we need to decide one methodology: RAC Roster name, nickname, formal name, etc. (e.g., Harold R. Paul, Skip Paul, Harold “Skip” Paul).
  • The title and topic fields are somewhat vague. Mary Moulton offered to review these subject headings on behalf of the TKN Task Force.
  • Regional chairs should issue regular reminders to their members to submit peer exchange reports for posting. The first reminder should ask for older peer exchange reports; future reminders can focus on newer reports.

Guidelines for RAC Surveys

The AASHTO-RAC listserv can be utilized to solicit information from other state DOT representatives regarding practices, policies, specifications, etc.

Once completed, the surveys and survey results can be posted in the RAC Survey Results database at

Below are some general guidelines to assist you in putting together an effective survey and distributing it to other DOT representatives. For more detail on developing a survey instrument, see the following guidelines: http://lap.umd.edu/survey_design/questionnaires.html.

1. Keep it short and sweet--Stay focused with the questions you ask and you will be more likely to get responses back (< 12 questions is recommended). Be sure to include the following elements in your email:

  • Survey topic and due date in Subject line of email
  • List of survey questions or attached PDF of survey instrument
  • Contact information for the person and organization conducting the survey

2. Be transparent--Make the relevant functional area within the DOT very clear so the Research Director can forward the survey to the appropriate person (for example, chief engineer, materials division).

3. Provide the context—Give background information such as the reason for the survey or any pertinent details about how you plan to use the survey results so that RAC members can determine who in their agency would be best qualified to answer the survey questions.

4. Give a deadline--Include a due date for responses (at least 2 weeks from the date of the request is recommended). Follow-up reminders may also be necessary.

5. Be flexible--Particularly with web-based survey instruments, don't force an answer to every question. Some RAC members prefer to read through the complete survey to determine the right person to answer; if they can't skip questions, they may decide not to respond to the survey.

One way to get around this difficulty is to create a PDF of the survey if it’s longer than one page and attach it to the email request. That way you can still require answers when necessary, but individuals can read through the whole survey before answering.

6. Avoid duplication--Check the website for previously conducted surveys with the same topic. Similar surveys don't preclude sending out a new survey, but can inform the development of the new survey.

7. Share the results--It is helpful to at least provide a summary of state DOT responses, even if you cannot provide detailed response information in tabulated format. Please forward survey results to Natassja Linzau () for posting on the SCOR/RAC website.

RAC Task Force on Administration – SCOR/RAC Website Working Group1