The Problem

implementation process. Snowballing is a simple process of expanding the zone of
contacts through initial contacts. The process begins by identifying an initial group of
stakeholders, hopefully those who are already involved in the preliminary stages of the
process. These sets of actors or participants are then asked to identify those individuals
whom they feel should be involved in the process as well. This is the “first-order” zone.
The researcher then proceeds to contact those actors (whether individuals or groups) and
proceeds to have these “second-order” actors, further identify others who they think
would have an interest in the project or process (Wasserman and Faust, 1994: 34; see also
Goldenberg, 1992; Babbie, 1998; Doreian and Woodward, 1992).
The process involves asking respondents to review a “fixed list” from our preliminary
research, to identify those stakeholders that they think are important as well as add to the
list those whom they think should be included. The key to this process is to be as
exhaustive as possible. Not only is this exhaustiveness critical to the validity of the
study, more importantly, it is politically necessary for administrators to at least be aware
of all potentially interested stakeholders.
VII. ATIS – A Case Study
This section will discuss briefly the case study which prompted this article. In 1993-94,
the Federal Highway Administration completed an extended study of rural areas to
explore the expansion of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS). Their findings
prompted a joint public-private project to be undertaken and deployed in a rural section
of Virginia. ATIS are electronic data retrieval systems designed to provide users with a
variety of traveling information, such as routes, traffic and weather conditions, upcoming
construction, etc., through multiple sources. This current project is exploring the viability
of providing a web-based ATIS for rural residents and other users in the state.
To date, the most important and time-consuming aspect of the study has involved
extensive stakeholder identification, education, and management. Based upon an
extensive pre-deployment study, we have been working in cooperation with participants
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