"Did We Get It Right?": Navigating Emergent Tensions in Assessing the Impact of Engaged Organizational Communication Scholarship

• In Event: B.E.S.T.: Social Responsibility and Ethics in Communication Practice and Research

Abstract

In communication research there has been an increased interest in engaged scholarship (Barge & Dempsey, 2014). Although research on important aspects of engaged scholarship such as its tensional nature is progressing, there is a need to study how events external to engaged scholarly projects affect these projects. This paper addresses such questions by examining one engaged scholarship initiative’s locally-led Ebola prevention campaign in Liberia. Drawing on qualitative data that the research team collected as part of its campaign evaluation and the reflections of researchers, we articulate tensions in assessing impact: (1) urgency and continuity, (2) action and research, (3) empathy and distance, and (4) attribution and contribution. We complicate the challenge of assessing impact further by underscoring an overarching tension between (a) facilitating engaged scholarship that seeks to have immediate impact and (b) systematically and empirically demonstrating the impact of those efforts.

Authors

• Stacey L. Connaughton, Purdue U

• Jasmine Linabary, Purdue U

• Liliya Yakova, Purdue U

• Arunima Krishna, Purdue U

• Kai Kuang, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

• Neva Stumberger, Purdue University

• Jessica Pauly, Purdue University

• Agaptus Anaele, Ohio