Research method

The purpose of this chapter is to set a level field for all readers, by briefly describing the various methods used in driving and highway safety research. The methods and concepts described below should be familiar to anyone with behavioral research background, or to an advanced student in the behavioral sciences. Still, because (he terms are repeatedly used in the following chapters, and some readers may not be familiar with all of them, they are defined here for reference. 

To base these gut-level convictions on good research is a lot more difficult. Research on driver and pedestrian behavior is admittedly complex because human behavior is complex to begin with, and the driving context is a complex environment. For this reason, in order to understand driver and pedestrian behavior we must conduct research at different levels of complexity -beginning with basic research on human behavior, in which the situation is quite simplified and well controlled and ending with observational on-the-road studies where the situation is most complex and almost nothing is under the control of the researcher. Between the two extremes there are laboratory studies with various levels of complexity that mimic the driving 

The remainder of this chapter defines some of the key terms that are relevant to behavioral research and the principal research methods. They are all illustrated with some examples from driving behavior research. The concepts and methods are not restricted to driving or highway safety research, but they will be illustrated here with examples fi om highway safety research. 

The purpose of this section is to present some concepts and terms that will be used in the rest of the book. They include various measures that relate to highway safety, validity and reliability of the measures, experimental versus observational studies, between-subject versus within-subject experimental designs, and statistical versus practical significance. 

Whenever we conduct a study we have at least two variables of interest a predictor, or independent variable, diat affects a behavior (violations) or a phenomenon (such as crashes) 

Many of the regulatory tests date back to the 1970s, and in some cases it is questionable whether the tests accurately predict performance in actual fire situations. These tests are often a pass/fail type, so it is difficult to obtain quantitative data. There are a few methods that do give quantitative information and these are often used in research applications. Attempts have been made to correlate these methods with the regulatory tests, with little success [9]. 

The limiting oxygen index (LOI) measures the minimum oxygen content that is required to sustain a flame [10]. The specimen in this test is in a vertical orientation, but it is the top of the specimen that is ignited. Because the specimen burns in a candle-like fashion, LOI may not be representative of fire situations. However, LOI does give quantitative information and may be useful for ranking the relative flammability of samples. 

The cone calorimeter was developed in the early 1980s by NIST [11]. This method uses 10 by 10 cm specimens that may be up to 5 cm thick. A cone-shaped heater applies a heat flux of up to 100kW/m2 to the top of the sample. Parameters that can be measured include peak and total heat release rate, mass loss and smoke generation. The data obtained from cone calorimetry can be used for engineering purposes. 

A micro-scale combustion calorimetric method test has been developed by Walter and Lyon, which involves pyrolysis and combustion calorimetry of the volatile products [12]. Using this technique, the heat release capacity can be obtained. The heat release capacity is a material parameter and has been used to correlate polymer structures with flammability [13]. 

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J. B. Weber and co-workers, in N. D. Camper, ed.. Research Methods in Weed Science, Southern Weed Science Society, Champaign, lU. 1986, pp. 

R — Research method octane rating, ASTM D2699 M = motor method octaine rating, ASTM D2700. 

For carrying out of given researches method of synthetic pyrethroids determination in air has been developed. Chromatographic behaviour is investigated and optimum conditions of the synthetic pyrethroids analysis with application of capillary column with stationary phase DB-5 and electron-capture detector are selected. 

Surfiice order and cleanliness. The most common use of LEED is in association with other surface analysis or surfiice research methods, to check surfiice structural order and cleanliness. A visual display of the diffraction pattern is used. An expected pattern, with sharp diffracted beams, is an indication that the surfiice is clean and well ordered. 

The mathematical principles of convective heat transfer are complex and outside the scope of this section. The problems are often so complicated that theoretical handling is difficult, and full use is made of empirical correlation formulas. These formulas often use different variables depending on the research methods. Inaccuracy in defining material characteristics, experimental errors, and geometric deviations produce noticeable deviations between correlation formulas and practice. Near the validity boundaries of the equations, or in certain unfavorable cases, the errors can be excessive. 

Untersuchungs-arbeit, /. research work, -chemiker, m. research chemist, -labora-torium, n. research laboratory, -material, n. material for investigation or under investigation. -methode, /. investigational method, research method, -mittel, n. means of research or examination indicator, -raum, m. laboratory, -richtung, /. line or direction of investigation. 

Hydrocarbon Boiling point, °F Research method F-1 Motor method F-2... 

An interesting problem solved by operations research methods is that of the flow of traffic through the New York tunnels. The presence of toll booths causes congestion of traffic at the entrances and exits of tunnels. Economical operation of the toll booths necessitates that not all booths be open at all times. By studying the statistics of the traffic, a schedule was developed indicating the number of booths to be operated at different times of the day. In this manner congestion was alleviated, and the frequency of traffic jams was reduced considerably.8... 

Sasieni, M. W., Yaspan, A., and Friedman, L., Operations Research Methods and Problems, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1959. 

Cohen, L., Manion, L., Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education (5th ed.). London and New York RoutledgePalmer. 

Katzenberg, M.A. 1992 Advances in stable isotope analysis of prehistoric bones. In Saunders, S.R. and Katzenberg, M.A., eds.. The Skeletal Biology of Past Peoples Research Methods. New York, Wiley-Liss 105-120. 

It is essential that research to assess the cost-effectiveness of antidepressant pharmacotherapy continues and that better pharmacoeconomic research methods evolve. Naturalistic studies may be used to observe how antidepressant dmgs petform in practice. 

WISEMAN s, WATERHOUSE A and KORVER o (2001) The health effects of tea and tea components oppormnities for standardizing research methods , Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 41 (5s), 387-412. 

The progress in science does not proceed with a steady pace. Periods of quantitative growths, often rich of results, begin, and end, with sudden changes which gives rise to a quantitative turn in the research methods. 

HPLC in Nucleic Acid Research Methods and Applications, edited by Phyllis R. Brown... 

Avdeef, A. High-throughput measurements of solubility profiles. In Pharmacokinetic Optimization in Drug Research (Methods and Principles in Medicinal Chemistry), Testa, B., Van de Waterbeemd, H., Folkers, G., Guy, R. (eds.), Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2001, pp. 305-325. 

Baars, T (2002) Reconciling Scientific Approaches for Organic Farming Research. Part I Reflection on Research Methods in Organic Grassland and Animal Production at Louis Bolk Institute, The Netherlands. CIP-Data Koninklike Bibliothek, Den Haag, The Netherland, 3-224. 

Allelopathy is newly emerging multidisciplinary field of agricultural research. A lot of allelopathy research work has been done in various fields of agriculture and plant sciences. However, standard methods are not being used by workers due to lack of a compendium on the techniques, and hence the results obtained are not easily comparable with each other. This causes problems to researchers working in underdeveloped / third world countries in small towns, where library and research facilities are not available. Therefore, to make available the standard methods for conducting allelopathy research work, this multi-volume book has been planned, with one volume each for each discipline. In all the conferences held since 1990 s a need has always been felt for a manual on allelopathy research methods. This book series aims to provide basic information about various methods to research workers, so that they can conduct research independently without the requirement of sophisticated equipments. The methods have been described in a simple way just like a DO IT YOURSELF book. 

Corresponding approaches were developed in all the research methods theoretical, computer simulation, and, moreover, experimental. Thus, copolymers were synthesized in vitro, which form non-aggregating structures of the type hydrophobic core-hydrophilic shell. The structure of such copolymers is similar in this respect to that of protein macromolecules [125-127]. 

Meehl, P. E., Golden, R. (1982). Taxometric methods. In P. Kendall. J. Butcher (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 127—181). New York Wiley. 

The choice of the research questions, type, and methodology all have consequences for the chosen research methods, which will be discussed in the next sub-Section. 

Bickman L., Rog D.J., 1998. Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods, Sage Publications, London. 

Gill J., Johnson P., 1991. Research Methods for Managers, Paul Chapman Publishing, London. 

Integrated decisions also require simultaneous decision making instead of iterative or even isolated decision making. Fulfilment of this postulation was nearly impossible to achieve in former years without real-time information technology and decision support methods. Thanks to information technology and operations research method advances, the objective to syn-... 

All research questions share the characteristic of investigating value chain processes and decisions holistically like in an integrated ecosystem. Operations Research methods and Information Technology provide the capabilities to be successful in this interdisciplinary research. 

Salem, H. (1986). Principles of inhalation toxicology. In Inhalation Toxicology Research Methods, Applications, and Evaluation. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 1-33. 

Reference and research methods. These are generally more sophisticated procedures that are used by central quality control laboratories or by government agencies with qualified personnel. These methods are often used to verify results obtained by the rapid methods described below or to calibrate the instruments. They may also be used to verify additives declared on the label of a food product or to check for the use of non-permitted additives. This aspect is of increasing importance since legislation may vaiy between different countries, and food products are frequently subject to inter-market exports . The most important characteristics of these analytical procedures are ... 

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