HEFCE indicated that impact should merit a 25% weighting within the REF (REF2014 2011b); however, this has been reduced for the 2014 REF to 20%, perhaps as a result of feedback and lobbying, for example, from the Russell Group and Million + group of Universities who called for impact to count for 15% (Russell Group 2009; Jump 2011) and following guidance from the expert panels undertaking the pilot exercise who suggested that during the 2014 REF, impact assessment would be in a developmental phase and that a lower weighting for impact would be appropriate with the expectation that this would be increased in subsequent assessments (REF2014 2010). Systems need to be able to capture links between and evidence of the full pathway from research to impact, including knowledge exchange, outputs, outcomes, and interim impacts, to allow the route to impact to be traced. The Payback Framework systematically links research with the associated benefits (Scoble et al. Different authors have different notions of educational evaluation. The criteria for assessment were also supported by a model developed by Brunel for measurement of impact that used similar measures defined as depth and spread. Many theorists, authors, research scholars, and practitioners have defined performance appraisal in a wide variety of ways. Merit refers to the intrinsic value of a program, for example, how effective it is in meeting the needs those it is intended help. Decker et al. 0000007777 00000 n 0000348082 00000 n 2007; Grant et al. 2006; Nason et al. It is important to emphasize that Not everyone within the higher education sector itself is convinced that evaluation of higher education activity is a worthwhile task (Kelly and McNicoll 2011). They are often written with a reader from a particular stakeholder group in mind and will present a view of impact from a particular perspective. Definitions of Performance Appraisal - By McGregor and Dale Beach . different meanings for different people in many different contexts. For example, the development of a spin out can take place in a very short period, whereas it took around 30 years from the discovery of DNA before technology was developed to enable DNA fingerprinting. It is now possible to use data-mining tools to extract specific data from narratives or unstructured data (Mugabushaka and Papazoglou 2012). Author: HPER Created Date: 3/2/2007 10:12:16 AM . Thalidomide has since been found to have beneficial effects in the treatment of certain types of cancer. As Donovan (2011) comments, Impact is a strong weapon for making an evidence based case to governments for enhanced research support. The Social Return on Investment (SROI) guide (The SROI Network 2012) suggests that The language varies impact, returns, benefits, value but the questions around what sort of difference and how much of a difference we are making are the same. (2005), Wooding et al. 0000334683 00000 n There are areas of basic research where the impacts are so far removed from the research or are impractical to demonstrate; in these cases, it might be prudent to accept the limitations of impact assessment, and provide the potential for exclusion in appropriate circumstances. Measurement assessment and evaluation helps the teachers to determine the learning progress of the students. By allowing impact to be placed in context, we answer the so what? question that can result from quantitative data analyses, but is there a risk that the full picture may not be presented to demonstrate impact in a positive light? Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. There is a distinction between academic impact understood as the intellectual contribution to ones field of study within academia and external socio-economic impact beyond academia. Impact can be temporary or long-lasting. It is therefore in an institutions interest to have a process by which all the necessary information is captured to enable a story to be developed in the absence of a researcher who may have left the employment of the institution. These traditional bibliometric techniques can be regarded as giving only a partial picture of full impact (Bornmann and Marx 2013) with no link to causality. On the societal impact of publicly funded Circular Bioeconomy research in Europe, Devices of evaluation: Institutionalization and impactIntroduction to the special issue, The rocky road to translational science: An analysis of Clinical and Translational Science Awards, The nexus between research impact and sustainability assessment: From stakeholders perspective. Enhancing Impact. The risk of relying on narratives to assess impact is that they often lack the evidence required to judge whether the research and impact are linked appropriately. This distinction is not so clear in impact assessments outside of the UK, where academic outputs and socio-economic impacts are often viewed as one, to give an overall assessment of value and change created through research. The ability to record and log these type of data is important for enabling the path from research to impact to be established and the development of systems that can capture this would be very valuable. 2007). The case study approach, recommended by the RQF, was combined with significance and reach as criteria for assessment. To allow comparisons between institutions, identifying a comprehensive taxonomy of impact, and the evidence for it, that can be used universally is seen to be very valuable. (2007) adapted the terminology of the Payback Framework, developed for the health and biomedical sciences from benefit to impact when modifying the framework for the social sciences, arguing that the positive or negative nature of a change was subjective and can also change with time, as has commonly been highlighted with the drug thalidomide, which was introduced in the 1950s to help with, among other things, morning sickness but due to teratogenic effects, which resulted in birth defects, was withdrawn in the early 1960s. To understand the method and routes by which research leads to impacts to maximize on the findings that come out of research and develop better ways of delivering impact. From 2014, research within UK universities and institutions will be assessed through the REF; this will replace the Research Assessment Exercise, which has been used to assess UK research since the 1980s. A collation of several indicators of impact may be enough to convince that an impact has taken place. This database of evidence needs to establish both where impact can be directly attributed to a piece of research as well as various contributions to impact made during the pathway. Such a framework should be not linear but recursive, including elements from contextual environments that influence and/or interact with various aspects of the system. In many instances, controls are not feasible as we cannot look at what impact would have occurred if a piece of research had not taken place; however, indications of the picture before and after impact are valuable and worth collecting for impact that can be predicted. At least, this is the function which it should perform for society. For example, following the discovery of a new potential drug, preclinical work is required, followed by Phase 1, 2, and 3 trials, and then regulatory approval is granted before the drug is used to deliver potential health benefits. RAND selected four frameworks to represent the international arena (Grant et al. Although some might find the distinction somewhat marginal or even confusing, this differentiation between outputs, outcomes, and impacts is important, and has been highlighted, not only for the impacts derived from university research (Kelly and McNicol 2011) but also for work done in the charitable sector (Ebrahim and Rangan, 2010; Berg and Mnsson 2011; Kelly and McNicoll 2011). From an international perspective, this represents a step change in the comprehensive nature to which impact will be assessed within universities and research institutes, incorporating impact from across all research disciplines. This might describe support for and development of research with end users, public engagement and evidence of knowledge exchange, or a demonstration of change in public opinion as a result of research. Over the past year, there have been a number of new posts created within universities, such as writing impact case studies, and a number of companies are now offering this as a contract service. 1.3. 0000004019 00000 n HEFCE developed an initial methodology that was then tested through a pilot exercise. Evaluative research has many benefits, including identifying whether a product works as intended, and uncovering areas for improvement within your solution. In this case, a specific definition may be required, for example, in the Research Excellence Framework (REF), Assessment framework and guidance on submissions (REF2014 2011b), which defines impact as, an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia. 0000008241 00000 n Despite many attempts to replace it, no alternative definition has . The fast-moving developments in the field of altmetrics (or alternative metrics) are providing a richer understanding of how research is being used, viewed, and moved. The development of tools and systems for assisting with impact evaluation would be very valuable. Johnston (Johnston 1995) notes that by developing relationships between researchers and industry, new research strategies can be developed. 0000002109 00000 n 0000342958 00000 n (2007:11-12), describes and explains the different types of value claim. This involves gathering and interpreting information about student level of attainment of learning goals., 2. Capturing knowledge exchange events would greatly assist the linking of research with impact. Definitions of Evaluation ( by different authors) According to Hanna- "The process of gathering and interpreted evidence changes in the behavior of all students as they progress through school is called evaluation". Evidence of academic impact may be derived through various bibliometric methods, one example of which is the H index, which has incorporated factors such as the number of publications and citations. Evaluation is a process which is continuous as well as comprehensive and involves all the tasks of education and not merely tests, measurements, and examination. In the UK, the Russell Group Universities responded to the REF consultation by recommending that no time lag be put on the delivery of impact from a piece of research citing examples such as the development of cardiovascular disease treatments, which take between 10 and 25 years from research to impact (Russell Group 2009). Table 1 summarizes some of the advantages and disadvantages of the case study approach. Assessment refers to a related series of measures used to determine a complex attribute of an individual or group of individuals. Muffat says - "Evaluation is a continuous process and is concerned with than the formal academic achievement of pupils. Impact is assessed alongside research outputs and environment to provide an evaluation of research taking place within an institution. In the UK, evidence and research impacts will be assessed for the REF within research disciplines. Authors from Asia, Europe, and Latin America provide a series of in-depth investigations into how concepts of . Cooke and Nadim (2011) also noted that using a linear-style taxonomy did not reflect the complex networks of impacts that are generally found. The transfer of information electronically can be traced and reviewed to provide data on where and to whom research findings are going. The Oxford English Dictionary defines impact as a 'Marked effect or influence', this is clearly a very broad definition. To be considered for inclusion within the REF, impact must be underpinned by research that took place between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2013, with impact occurring during an assessment window from 1 January 2008 to 31 July 2013. This transdisciplinary way of thinking about evaluation provides a constant source of innovative ideas for improving how we evaluate. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. 2008), developed during the mid-1990s by Buxton and Hanney, working at Brunel University. 0000001087 00000 n The process of evaluation is dynamic and ongoing. However, there has been recognition that this time window may be insufficient in some instances, with architecture being granted an additional 5-year period (REF2014 2012); why only architecture has been granted this dispensation is not clear, when similar cases could be made for medicine, physics, or even English literature. Where quantitative data were available, for example, audience numbers or book sales, these numbers rarely reflected the degree of impact, as no context or baseline was available.

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