CEH 513: Research Methods

Department of Civil Engineering

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Lecture Notes by: Emmanuel A. Donkor

Lecture Notes Set 1.2

INTRODUCTION TO RTE RESEARCH

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 1

Contents
1. The Nature of Research

2. Scope of Roads and Transportation Research

3. RTEP Research Abstracts: 2013-2014

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 2

Course Purpose and Objectives
Purpose
• To help students appreciate the nature of research

Objectives: By the end of the course, you should be able to…

• Define research
• Describe some focal areas (scope) of research in RTEP
• List the types of research methods used in previous RTEP thesis

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 3

1. THE NATURE OF RESEARCH

Research is a process of structured enquiry, conducted to provide

information that can be used for understanding and for drawing
conclusions about states of nature, systems, populations etc so that
effective decisions can be made about their operation and control.

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 4

Research in Engineering

• Work/activity directed at improving the properties of materials or the

functioning of processes, so that practice can be safe and/or
economical

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 5

Categorizing Research
• By Level
• Basic
• Applied

• By Purpose
• Descriptive
• Explanatory/Predictive
• Prescriptive
• By Research method
• Experimental; Survey
• Observation; Case study
• Simulation; Mathematical modeling (optimization)

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 6

2. SCOPE OF ROADS AND TRANSPORTAION
ENGINEERING RESEARCH
• Policy and Practice
• Methodological
• Emerging Technologies
• Transport and Environment
• Logistics and Transportation Review
• Traffic Psychology and Behaviour

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 7

Transportation Research Part A:
Policy and Practice
• Transportation Research: Part A contains papers of general interest in all
passenger and freight transportation modes: policy analysis, formulation
and evaluation; planning; interaction with the political, socioeconomic
and physical environment; design, management and evaluation of
transportation systems. Topics are approached from any discipline or
perspective: economics, engineering, sociology, psychology, etc. Case
studies, survey and expository papers are included, as are articles which
contribute to unification of the field, or to an understanding of the
comparative aspects of different systems. Papers which assess the scope
for technological innovation within a social or political framework are
also published. The journal is international, and places equal emphasis on
the problems of industrialized and non-industrialized regions.
COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 8
Transportation Research Part B:
Methodological
• Transportation Research: Part B publishes papers on all methodological aspects of the
subject, particularly those that require mathematical analysis. The general theme of
the journal is the development and solution of problems that are adequately motivated to deal with
important aspects of the design and/or analysis of transportation systems. Areas covered
include: (1)traffic flow; (2)design and analysis of transportation networks; (3)control
and scheduling; (4)optimization; (5)queuing theory; (6)logistics; (7)supply chains;
(8)development and application of statistical, econometric and mathematical models
to address transportation problems; (9)cost models; (10)pricing and/or investment;
(11)traveler or shipper behavior; (12)cost-benefit methodologies.
• Audience: Operations researchers, Logisticians, Economists, Econometricians,
Mathematical Modelers, and Transportation Engineers, Geographers and Planners.

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 9

Transportation Research Part C:
Emerging Technologies
• The focus of Transportation Research: Part C is high-quality, scholarly research that
addresses development, applications, and implications, in the field of transportation,
of emerging technologies from such fields as operations research, computer
science, electronics, control systems, artificial intelligence, and telecommunications,
among others. The interest is not in the individual technologies or methodologies per
se, but in their ultimate implications for the planning, design, operation, control,
management, maintenance and rehabilitation of transportation systems, services and
components.
• Of particular interest are the impacts of emerging technologies on transportation
system performance, in terms of level of service, capacity, safety, reliability,
resource consumption and the environment, economics and finance, privacy,
standards, and liability. Submissions in the following areas of transportation are
encouraged by Part C: the impact of emerging technologies for all modes and for
intermodal transportation; intelligent transportation systems; real-time operations;
logistics; resource management; consumer/traveler adoption, acceptance and usage
of new technologies; infrastructure applications of emerging technologies.
COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 10
Transportation Research Part D:
Transport and Environment
• Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment publishes original research on the
environmental impacts of transportation, policy responses to those impacts, and their
implications for the design, planning, and management of transportation systems. It covers
all aspects of the interaction between transportation and the environment. For example, it
includes papers ranging in their coverage from the local and immediate effects of
transportation networks on the environments of specific geographical areas, to the widest
global implications of natural resource depletion and atmospheric pollution.
• The journal invites submissions of research papers on all modes of transportation, including
maritime and air transportation as well as land transportation, and considers their impacts on
the environment in the broad sense. Papers dealing with both mobile aspects and
transportation infrastructure are considered. The emphasis of the journal is on empirical
findings and policy responses of a regulatory, planning, technical or fiscal nature. Articles are
primarily policy-driven and should be relevant and applied as well as being accessible to
readers from a wide range of disciplines. There are no disciplinary boundaries to work
considered and submissions of an interdisciplinary nature are welcomed. Equally, the journal
is fully international in its orientation and invites contributions from economically
developing, as well as more economically advanced, countries.

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 11

Transportation Research Part E:
Logistics and Transportation Review
Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review publishes
informative articles drawn from across the spectrum of logistics and
transportation research. Subjects include, but are not limited to:
• Transport economics including cost and production functions, capacity,
demand, pricing, externalities, modal studies;
• Transport infrastructure and investment appraisal;
• Evaluation of public policies;
• Empirical studies of management practices and performance;
• Logistics and operations models, especially with application;
• Logistics and supply-chain management topics.

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 12

Transportation Research Part F:
Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
• Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour focuses on the
behavioural and psychological aspects of traffic and transport.
• The aim of the journal is to enhance theory development, improve the
quality of empirical studies and to stimulate the application of research
findings in practice. TRF provides a focus and a means of
communication for the considerable amount of research activities that
are now being carried out in this field. The journal provides a forum for
transportation researchers, psychologists, ergonomists, engineers and
policy-makers with an interest in traffic and transport psychology.

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 13

3. RTEP RESEARCH: 2013-2014
Which of the studies carried out by previous RTEP students would you
classify as
• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Predictive
• Prescriptive

COPYRIGHT: Dr. Emmanuel A. Donkor 14