From Transportation Fatigue Research to Effective Practice: The Case for Evaluation

Abstract

A golden age of research in the fields of sleep, circadian rhythms, and shift work has arrived. Each of these seemingly independent scientific disciplines has rendered tremendous progress over the past few decades that converge into a core body of research with direct applications for mitigating transportation fatigue and fatigue-related accidents. A common understanding now exists regarding key factors associated with transportation fatigue and related accidents across transportation domains. A variety of validated countermeasures and practical tools known to mitigate fatigue and accident risk have been developed. Despite this common knowledge of fatigue risk factors and known effective countermeasures among the research community, numerous challenges remain in bridging the gap between transportation fatigue research and effective real-world practice. Tracing the history of evaluation in response to the federal mandate for evaluation, including its roles, theories and methods, and evidence from the 2009 International Conference on Fatigue Management in Transportation, we propose the transdiscipline of evaluation as a mechanism for bridging this gap. Each chapter in this volume of Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics was reviewed using an evaluative framework that focused on five broad evaluative question areas: (a) authors’ main points, arguments, and conclusions with respect to context, program design, implementation, and impact; (b) authors’ key recommendations; (c) gaps and deficiencies, if any, in authors’ recommendations; (d) the most promising approaches for practical use; and (e) evaluation considerations for facilitating research use and practical applications. These evaluative question areas then were synthesized across chapters for common themes, gaps and deficiencies, and most promising approaches. The extent to which chapters respond to the federal evaluation mandate with respect to context, program design, implementation, and impact is discussed. In conclusion, drawing from the vast knowledge and experience in the evaluation field, a case is made for using five key evaluation principles to help bridge the gap between transportation fatigue research and effective practice, including core evaluation questions, stakeholder engagement, utilization-focused data and information gathering, valid and relevant findings, and targeted reporting.