Framework for the Review of Research Programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 237

targets of NORA 1 and the proposed NORA 2 objectives for the next decade should
be considered.
NIOSH is in the midst of a substantial restructuring of the NORA agenda, and
expert judgment about relevance and prospective impact of current research pro-
grams will be most useful to the agency. The timeframes provided here are only for
general guidance; the exact dates of the period to focus on in reviewing programs
will depend on the specific research program under review.
III.B.2. Identification of Major Challenges
(Circle in Figure 2)
Early in its assessment process, an EC should independently identify the major
challenges for its research program. These would be the matters the EC believes
should have priority in the research program being evaluated. In arriving at a list of
challenges, the EC should rely on surveillance findings, including NIOSH investiga-
tions of sentinel events (through health-hazard or fatality-assessment programs),
and its own expert judgment. Those should be supplemented with determinations
or recommendations by appropriate advisory sources regardless of whether these
sources have contributed to NIOSH program deliberations. This process will al-
low the EC to compare its assessment of challenges to be addressed by NIOSH
with NIOSH program goals, and to evaluate the congruence between the two as a
measure of relevance (Charge 2).
III.B.3. Analysis of Research Program Strategic Goals and Objectives
(Box A in Figure 2)
The research program goals and objectives should be evaluated, with a focus
on how each research program's goals are related to NIOSH's agency-wide strategic
goals and to the major current challenges and emerging problems identified in the
step above. Differences may exist between the importance or relevance of an issue
and the influence NIOSH-funded research might have in addressing the issue. The
EC should recognize that NIOSH research priorities may be strategic rather than
based on the assessment of the state of knowledge.
Some aspects of the NIOSH research program's strategic goals and objectives
would have been already subjected to evaluation by internal or external bodies. Re-
search program relevant evaluations that should be requested include the NIOSH
annual program review by the Leadership Team; the NORA research program
proposal pre-award external review, NORA post-award program external review,
and external scientific program review.