Emerging Cultures of Evaluation around Impact Assessment in Policy Research Organizations: Developing a Theoretical Framework

• In Event: 3450 - Evaluating People, Work, and Organizations

Abstract

Research is crucial in addressing complex environmental, social and economic challenges. As such, research organizations are eager to develop efficient ways to measure their wider impact or influence, in order to inform strategies around research focus, funding, communication and reporting. Yet, the measurement of impact in research organizations is highly contested, and expertise in the area is under theorised. This paper intervenes in this setting by reframing impact assessment as occurring within a ‘space between fields’, which shapes cultures of evaluation according to multiple criteria and logics. This paper offers a characterisation of the growing field of impact assessment that takes into account the requirements of multiple professional and intellectual arenas involved in the legitimate measurement and production of ‘impactful’ research. This contribution will consider emerging technologies of impact assessment, namely ‘alternative metrics’, which make available new types of capital in this space. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of the World Bank, I show how this framework can be used to understand shifting cultures of evaluation in research organizations. This work diverges from previous literature because of its field theoretic approach, which elaborates the hybrid nature and consequences of the space between fields.

Author

• Kate Williams, University of Cambridge