Research to Practice to Research

Abstract

This is the first of two panels to discuss pathways and barriers in moving promising ergonomic concepts from research to practice and in moving important ergonomic problems from practice to research. The panelists are from a variety of industry sectors and academia. The session will start with a 5-minute introductory statement from each panelist; therefore, most of the session will be a discussion between panelists and the audience on the topic. On the research side there is difficulty in conducting good research capable of demonstrating a safety or productivity value for promising ergonomic interventions. Problems include poor access to workplaces to conduct the research, lack of funding, difficulty obtaining a control group, etc. Some practitioners believe that well-designed research is not necessary for industry to make decisions on adoption. On the industry side barriers to adopting promising ergonomic interventions include lack of convincing data, cost, anticipation of reduced productivity, poor usability, poor acknowledgement of a problem, and history/legacy (“we have always done it this way and the process works”). Likewise, practitioners may have difficulty convincing academics to study ergonomic problems that they face daily in the workplace and they may perceive that academics study concepts that have little value for industry. Barriers for academics to take on these important topics may be related to funding, lack of clear design related solutions, limited impact, and research on a topic that is too applied or related to a proprietary idea. The goal is to improve understanding of different perspectives and generate ideas for improving the process of research to practice to research (RtPtR).