The impact of impact: How research value is created and assessed in the UK, US and Australia

影响力的影响：英国、美国和澳大利亚如何创造和评估研究价值

基本信息

批准号：
ES/V004123/1
负责人：
Alexandra Pollitt
金额：
$ 69.15万
依托单位：
King's College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2021 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV004123%2F1
关键词：
impact How research value created

项目摘要

Context and aimsAs universities become bound up in a public role as drivers of economic prosperity, there has been a global policy shift towards measuring the value and benefit of publicly funded research. Governments have invested substantial resources in assessing research impact despite contestation around definitions, methodologies and processes. The rapid channelling of resources into impact has resulted in an under-theorised field that is largely dominated by pragmatic research policy concerns (i.e. focused on procedures and mechanisms). What is missing is a more nuanced conceptualisation of the societal value of research impact, which is essential in ensuring that research investment leads to meaningful societal outcomes. To capture this value, theoretically informed empirical insights into impact and the effects of its assessment on research cultures are needed. This, in turn, can inform the responsible evaluation of publicly funded research.This will be the first large-scale comparative study examining research impact across countries. The project will compare academic cultures in three countries involved in the international push for the assessment of research impact; the UK, US and Australia, which utilise substantially different assessment models. The project will develop a theoretical understanding of research impact and its measurement. It will identify the effects of national research impact assessment policies and practices, and ascertain how they shape the ways research is done and their consequences for knowledge.Potential applications and benefitsThere is a pressing need for in-depth studies of the institutional and individual effects of research evaluation to interrogate frequently uncritical acceptance of dominant forms of valuation. This study will be novel in its examination of the powerful rhetoric of value that dominates discussions of research impact, and in its articulation of the challenges involved in the audit and commodification of academic research. This research will advance sociological and political understandings of research value, and will contribute theoretically informed knowledge to the applied fields of research evaluation and public policy. It will examine the emerging cultural patterns that surround research impact, and shed light on the political processes of decision-making and authority around impact policies. The study will shape the academic debate on the impact cultures of the UK, US and Australia, and contribute to a larger debate on the value of publicly funded research.The study has strong potential to influence the policies that determine how impact is measured and how publicly funded research is governed in the UK, US, Australia and globally. By working directly with stakeholders including science policymakers, research funders and researchers, it will inform debate on the role of universities and research in society and facilitate more robust, reflexive and ethical research systems. It will provide recommendations on the structures and resources that policymakers, funders and higher education leaders could make available to researchers to support them in achieving high-quality research that makes a meaningful contribution to society. Understanding research impact and its assessment is of critical importance, not only strategically for UK, US and Australian governments, but also for countries with similar or emerging evaluation and funding models. It will allow countries to be intentional about creating responsive, equitable research systems that promote core values, such as a dual focus on research excellence and societal benefit. Outputs from the study will include dissemination to policymakers, practitioners and the wider public through events for stakeholders, a working paper, a policy brief, blogs and media articles and a project website. Academic dissemination will occur through conference participation and open access articles in top journals.

背景和目标随着大学成为经济繁荣驱动力的公共角色，全球政策已转向衡量公共资助研究的价值和效益。尽管围绕定义、方法和流程存在争议，但各国政府仍投入了大量资源来评估研究影响。资源的快速投入产生了影响，导致了一个理论不足的领域，该领域主要由务实的研究政策关注（即关注程序和机制）主导。缺少的是对研究影响的社会价值的更细致的概念化，这对于确保研究投资带来有意义的社会成果至关重要。为了捕捉这一价值，需要从理论上了解其影响及其评估对研究文化的影响的实证见解。反过来，这可以为对公共资助研究的负责任的评估提供信息。这将是第一个考察各国研究影响的大规模比较研究。该项目将比较参与国际推动研究影响评估的三个国家的学术文化；英国、美国和澳大利亚采用截然不同的评估模型。该项目将对研究影响及其衡量进行理论理解。它将确定国家研究影响评估政策和实践的影响，并确定它们如何影响研究的开展方式及其对知识的影响。潜在的应用和好处迫切需要深入研究研究影响的机构和个人影响研究评估经常质疑对主流评估形式的不加批判的接受。这项研究的新颖之处在于它对主导研究影响讨论的强大价值修辞进行了检验，并阐明了学术研究的审计和商品化所涉及的挑战。这项研究将促进社会学和政治学对研究价值的理解，并将为研究评估和公共政策的应用领域贡献理论知识。它将审视围绕研究影响力的新兴文化模式，并阐明围绕影响力政策的决策和权威的政治过程。这项研究将塑造关于英国、美国和澳大利亚影响力文化的学术辩论，并有助于就公共资助研究的价值进行更广泛的辩论。这项研究有很大的潜力影响决定如何衡量影响力和如何影响力的政策。公共资助的研究受到英国、美国、澳大利亚和全球的监管。通过与科学政策制定者、研究资助者和研究人员等利益相关者直接合作，它将为有关大学和研究在社会中的作用的辩论提供信息，并促进更强大、反思性和道德的研究系统。它将就政策制定者、资助者和高等教育领导者可以向研究人员提供的结构和资源提供建议，以支持他们实现高质量的研究，为社会做出有意义的贡献。了解研究影响及其评估至关重要，不仅对英国、美国和澳大利亚政府具有战略意义，而且对具有类似或新兴评估和资助模式的国家也至关重要。它将允许各国有意识地创建反应灵敏、公平的研究体系，以促进核心价值观，例如对卓越研究和社会效益的双重关注。研究成果将包括通过利益相关者活动、工作文件、政策简报、博客和媒体文章以及项目网站向政策制定者、从业者和广大公众传播。学术传播将通过参加会议和顶级期刊上的开放获取文章进行。