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Show CHAPTER IV A STRATEGY FOR RESEARCH COORDINATION Introduction Resource planning and management problems of the Great Salt Lake are highly complex. As yet, many unknown and little understood conditions and processes are involved ( Table 1). On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly more important to clearly and accurately identify both the short and long term social consequences of management decisions and actions with respect to the lake system. Thus, the establishment and maintenance of a viable and sound management policy for the lake is dependent to a considerable degree upon information needs as supplied by research results. To fulfill its requirements, a research program must be integrated and well coordinated in terms of the needs of a dynamic management plan. As has been suggested earlier in this report, research ( including data gathering) needs for the lake system can be identified in the absence of a management plan. However, the prioritization of research needs cannot fully be accomplished without reference to a specific plan of resource management. Likewise, a management plan cannot be fixed in the time dimension, but must be capable of being adjusted in terms of the kinds of answers which research is providing. For example, research might well provide an answer which would require a major change in a previously adopted management plan. Thus, the formulation and continuation of a sound resource management plan for the Great Salt Lake requires the continuous flow of information between the decision- maker as he establishes research needs and priorities, and the research entitities as they develop programs to meet identified needs, and subsequently as they provide answers to the users ( in this case, the decision- maker). For a management plan to be sucessful, it must be dynamic in that it is continuously responsive to physical and social constraints and needs as these occur and as they are identified by research results. Ideally, then, there should be a clqse interaction and easy flow of information and ideas between the research and application phases. The system of communication between the user and the researcher is illustrated in schematic form by Figure 8. Quoting from Bagley etal., 1973: The planning and management, or user, functions shown near the top of the diagram are mission oriented. The success of the user in meeting mission objectives frequently is limited by problems which arise both from a lack of sufficient basic information and from the application of specific research results. The question then is one of attempting to solve these user problems by transmitting them to the researcher whose functions are depicted at the bottom of the diagram of Figure 8. The loss of problem definition and resolution between the user and the researcher is represented by the diagram as information filters. The smaller the amount of information that is removed by these filters, the more clearly defined are the problems as they reach the researcher, with the result that research programs tend to be increasingly less fragmented and more consistent with user needs. On the other hand, information loss in this channel between the user and the research functions causes a distortation of research needs as viewed by the researcher. Under this situation research programs usually are not adequately geared to solve the problems of the user. In a similar manner, research results are transmitted with a greater or lesser degree of information loss from the researcher to the user. The user might not have sufficient background and experience, for example, to fully understand and utilize the research information as it is being presented. On the other hand, inconsistencies might exist between needs as viewed by the user and information as being supplied by the researcher. This loss of research information through the transfer process to the user is represented by the diagram of Figure 8. The potentially useful report collecting dust on the sponsor's desk is a typical example of this kind of information loss between the research and use functions. Figure 8 includes two shaded areas which encompass the three filters near the center of the diagram. The shading is intended to represent critical areas of joint user- researcher activities involving ( 1) the recognition and definition of research needs, and ( 2) the implementation and application of research results. It is recognized that these joint activities can, and indeed should, extend to some degree across the entire diagram from the user to the research functions. However, well- developed and well- coordinated joint user- researcher functions is vital for a minimum information loss through the communication links. 57 |