Thinking about research impact

contributing to society and the economyTara Fenwick

(reflecting ESRC influence but not representing it!)

Timely, relevant research

Concrete benefits

Particular beneficiaries

Demonstrable

Outcomes, not just outputs

Hannah Lambie-Mumford, University of SheffieldEmergency food provision in the UK: Understanding its rise and implications

impact: crash, bang, jar, jolt, shake, pound,

strike, wallop …(tremble?)

Types of research impact

Instrumental: influencing the development of policy, practice or service provision, shaping legislation, altering behaviour

Conceptual: reframing debates, changing thinking, contributing to culture/attitude changes – in ways that help improve policy or practice

Capacity building: contributing to technical and personal skill development.

'the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy’

(RCUK)

What does social science impact look like?

New instruments, new methods, new questions

Tangible improvements in practice

Forming networks and relationships with communities

Creating partnerships with agencies (NPO, private, government, thinktanks etc)

Increasing capacity for critical problem-solving

Showing limitations of existing frames of thinking, solutions, evidence base

Developing people who can use research

And more …..

What creates research impact?

• Establish relationships and networks with user communities

• Involve users actively right from the beginning

Identify stakeholder ‘champions’

• Plan carefully: user-engagement and knowledge exchange strategies (eg workshops, meetings, short videos, blogs, tweets)

• Create accessible, easy-to-use formats (eg one-page policy briefs)

• Build reputations with research users through portfolios of research activity

• Work with intermediaries and knowledge brokers who can help influence communities and translate research into application

Typically, some change in policy and/or practice. ‘Dissemination’ is not enough

The nuances of ‘impact’

Causality problem – unclear what benefits can be attributed to what cause (given all the feedback loops)

Multiple influences on any given change in policy or practice

Timescale – impact is non linear and diffuse. Also, researcher rhythms much longer than policy making.

Mediation by others (eg politics, private sector agendas etc) beyond control of researchers

Future is always shifting - difficult to plan how one’s research can have impact

Difficult to balance demands of policy/practice and research/disciplinary knowledge

Uncertainty is central and ubiquitous in social science/science – but impact assumes some predictability

These are well recognised. No one is advocating mechanical approaches, linear causality, or fallacies of attribution.

creating webs of influence

? ? ?

Additional resourcesCultivating connections: innovation and consolidation in the ESRC's impact evaluation programme is the latest impact evaluation report, analysing recent studies and the common threads running through them. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Cultivating_connections_tcm8-25678.pdf

Taking stock: a summary of ESRC's work to evaluate the impact of research on policy and practice This report covers the history of the ESRC's activity and its work in this area up to February 2009. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Taking%20Stock_tcm8-4545.pdf

Branching out: new directions in impact evaluation from the ESRC's Evaluation Committee covers work undertaken between 2009 and 2011. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Branching%20Out_tcm8-14881.pdf

ESRC’s ‘impact case studies’ conducted on selected successful projects, such as the Rural Economy and Land Use programme http://www.esrc.ac.uk/research/evaluation-impact/impact-evaluation/policy-practice-impacts.aspx

LSE Public Policy Group (2011). Maximising the impacts of your research: a handbook for social scientists, LSE, April 2011.