International Training Programme on Ageing 17 19 September 2013 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

International Training Programme on Ageing

17 – 19 September 2013

Trinity Biomedical Science Institute

Brendan Murtagh Queens University Belfast Measuring Impact

• The discourses of

research impact

• Lack of public confidence; is

it really independent?

• Waste of public money
• Unnecessarily complicated

academia

• Irrelevant and self-serving
• Disconnected from ‘the

user’

• Unaccountable and

deliberately mysterious

Impact as part of the research value chain

• Equally neglected is

the relationship between research and policy and practice and how the involvement

• f these groups in the

research process might improve the impact of knowledge translation.

FUTUREAGE: [http://futurage.group.shef.ac.uk /user-involvement.html]

http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources

Defining impact: ESRC

• Academic impact is the

demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research makes to scientific advances, across and within disciplines, including significant advances in understanding, method, theory and application.

• Economic and societal impact

is the demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research makes to society and the economy, of benefit to individuals, organisations and nations.

• The impact of social science

research can be categorised as:

• Instrumental: influencing the

development of policy, practice

• r service provision, shaping

legislation, altering behaviour

• Conceptual: contributing to the

understanding of policy issues, reframing debates

• Capacity building: through

technical and personal skill development.

Planning research impact

• Identify your key

stakeholders

• Identify how they will

benefit from your research

• Identify how you will

ensure they have the

• pportunity to

benefit

Toolkits and resources across disciplines

https://becker.wustl.edu/impact-assessment

Washington University in St Louis Medicine

REF Review of Impact Pilot

• Committed to a case study approach
• Impact should be defined broadly to

include social, economic, cultural, environmental, health and quality of life benefits.

• Impacts from research typically develop
• ver extended periods of time
• The REF should include benefits arising

from engaging the public with research

• The two criteria for assessing impact –

‘reach’ and ‘significance’ are applicable across all disciplines.

RCUK: implications for best practice

• Keep it simple
• Make it targeted – do the right things; don't try to do

everything

• Involve the whole research team – gather ideas and build
• wnership
• Communicate it effectively within the team and externally
• Build in review mechanisms to measure effectiveness and plan

ahead

• Update it regularly in the light of experience and
• pportunities
• Share successes and knowledge about what works and what

doesn't

Benefits of impact strategies

• Stay focused on the useful outputs from your research –

making it more likely that your research will make a difference to people’s lives;

• Get the language and approach right; throughout your project

– in your recruitment material, research tools and reports;

• Get better quality data, a more-rounded and informed

interpretation of the data and findings that have greater credibility with your funders and other key stakeholders;

• Gain personally from new relationships and a greater

knowledge and understanding of the people you work with;

• Reach a much wider audience with your reports and

presentations – in particular reaching the people who are most likely to make use of your results;

• Identify research gaps or follow on studies.

Blackman et al (2010, p.37)

Problems with research impact

• Whose impact
• The politics of research
• Impact is determined by

the consumer as well as the producer

• How is reach and

significance measured

• What metrics are valid
• Inappropriate impact and

tokenism

• Attribution, causality and

time

• Ethics and disclosure

Implications

• Impact is critical but not

new to researchers

• Plan impact at the

design stage

• Good practical tools and

resources

• Pragmatism in funding

but also ethical

• Defining the researchers

understanding of impact and the value of research