Measuring the Benefits of Intercity Passenger Rail: A Study

Stakeholders also provided guidance to the researchers on the data collection procedure.
One proposal for the data collection procedure involved leaving a blank survey form and pencil
on every seat of the train before passengers boarded, in an attempt to maximize the distribution
of the survey to all eligible passengers. However, Amtrak staff advised against this proposed
method and advised that the researchers distribute the blank survey forms to the passengers
personally. Additionally, both Amtrak and ODOT advised the use of an opaque box with an
opening in the top located in the café car for passengers to drop off completed survey forms.
Amtrak management also allowed researchers to access the train at the same time as the onboard
staff (before passengers boarded), which would provide the researchers adequate time to
prepare the data collection materials. Subsequent sections of this chapter discuss additional
Amtrak on-board staff involvement in the on-board passenger survey. Amtrak also allowed
researchers to utilize the crew hotel for overnight accommodations in Oklahoma City, including
transfer between the station and the hotel. As a final step, researchers received approval from
Amtrak for the specific dates of the data collection, as Amtrak was also scheduling its own
internal surveys of Heartland Flyer passengers during this time period.
Institutional Review Board Approval
Since this research study involved interaction with human subjects, researchers were
required to receive approval from the Texas A&M University Office of Research Compliance’s
Institutional Review Board (IRB) before undertaking any data collection. Researchers submitted
an initial application to the IRB on March 12, 2009. The IRB application included a detailed
description of the proposed data collection procedure, a blank copy of the survey instrument, and
letters of support for the study from Amtrak, ODOT, and TxDOT. The IRB requested additional
information and a revised application was submitted on March 26, 2009. The IRB protocol
(#2009-0199) was ruled “exempt from full IRB review” and approved on April 2, 2009. The
initial IRB application reported that approximately 1,200 subjects would participate in the study.
When researchers scheduled the second round of data collection in June 2009, an amendment to
the IRB protocol was necessary to increase the subject pool, as researchers anticipated that the
original approved subject pool size would be exceeded with the second round of surveys.
Researchers submitted an amendment to the IRB on June 22, 2009, requesting that the subject
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