Adjusting to Impact: A study of research impact evaluation in Norway
(2022) SOCM04 20221Sociology
Department of Sociology
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Policymakers are increasingly demanding that their investments in research and knowledge production should yield returns. The interest of evaluating the societal impact of research has grown rapidly as research funders request evidence that their investments lead to public benefits. This thesis is a study of how the Research Council of Norway has operationalized such demands into new evaluation practices revolving around the concept of Impact. The material to this study consists of one evaluation report that introduced Impact into Norwegian research evaluation, the council’s planning procedures in grant applications in addition to four expert interviews. Informed by practice-oriented document analysis, it highlights the transformative... (More)
- Policymakers are increasingly demanding that their investments in research and knowledge production should yield returns. The interest of evaluating the societal impact of research has grown rapidly as research funders request evidence that their investments lead to public benefits. This thesis is a study of how the Research Council of Norway has operationalized such demands into new evaluation practices revolving around the concept of Impact. The material to this study consists of one evaluation report that introduced Impact into Norwegian research evaluation, the council’s planning procedures in grant applications in addition to four expert interviews. Informed by practice-oriented document analysis, it highlights the transformative capacity of documents and emphasises the ways in which evaluation functions as tools to make visible phenomena, implement policies and transform researchers and their projects into alignment with Impact demands through processes of translation. Informed by actor-network analysis, I explore how evaluation stages and enacts realities into being. (Less)
- Popular Abstract (Norwegian)
- Interessa for å evaluere samfunnseffektane til forsking har vakse med at avgjerdstakarar krev bevis for at investeringar i forsking fører til nytte for samfunnet. I denne masteroppgåva undersøker eg korleis Noregs forskingsråd har operasjonalisert slike krav om til nye evalueringspraksisar orientert mot førestillinga "impact". Ved bruk av praksisorientert dokumentanalyse behandlar eg evaluering som eit optisk verktøy som gjer fenomen synlege, men også som eit politisk verktøy som overtyder evalueringsobjektet om validiteten til det som blir evaluert. Videre undersøker eg korleis Forskingsrådet planlegg for "impact" gjennom å redusere prosjektforslag til logiske forhold mellom predefinerte element som interessent, verknad og effekt. Ved... (More)
- Interessa for å evaluere samfunnseffektane til forsking har vakse med at avgjerdstakarar krev bevis for at investeringar i forsking fører til nytte for samfunnet. I denne masteroppgåva undersøker eg korleis Noregs forskingsråd har operasjonalisert slike krav om til nye evalueringspraksisar orientert mot førestillinga "impact". Ved bruk av praksisorientert dokumentanalyse behandlar eg evaluering som eit optisk verktøy som gjer fenomen synlege, men også som eit politisk verktøy som overtyder evalueringsobjektet om validiteten til det som blir evaluert. Videre undersøker eg korleis Forskingsrådet planlegg for "impact" gjennom å redusere prosjektforslag til logiske forhold mellom predefinerte element som interessent, verknad og effekt. Ved hjelp av aktør-nettverksteori skildrar eg desse som omsettingsprosessar. Slik syner eg at meklarrolla Noregs forskingsråd har mellom styresmakta og forskingssektoren ikkje berre gir utslag i dei tematiske programma deira, men korleis Forskingsrådet ved bruk av evaluering formidlar statlege krav til og utøver kraft også mot den basisfinansierte forskingssektoren. Til slutt diskuterer eg evaluering i lys av vitskapssosiologiske innsikt som tilseier at røyndomar er ein konsekvens av og ikkje ei årsak til vitskaplege sanningar. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9089387
- author
- Marvik, Jo Arne Hansen LU
- supervisor
-
- Åsa Lundqvist LU
- Staffan Edling LU
- organization
- course
- SOCM04 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- research evaluation, impact evaluation, research council, practice-oriented document analysis, actor-network theory
- language
- English
- id
- 9089387
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-16 16:08:22
- date last changed
- 2022-06-16 16:08:22
@misc{9089387,
abstract = {{Policymakers are increasingly demanding that their investments in research and knowledge production should yield returns. The interest of evaluating the societal impact of research has grown rapidly as research funders request evidence that their investments lead to public benefits. This thesis is a study of how the Research Council of Norway has operationalized such demands into new evaluation practices revolving around the concept of Impact. The material to this study consists of one evaluation report that introduced Impact into Norwegian research evaluation, the council’s planning procedures in grant applications in addition to four expert interviews. Informed by practice-oriented document analysis, it highlights the transformative capacity of documents and emphasises the ways in which evaluation functions as tools to make visible phenomena, implement policies and transform researchers and their projects into alignment with Impact demands through processes of translation. Informed by actor-network analysis, I explore how evaluation stages and enacts realities into being.}},
author = {{Marvik, Jo Arne Hansen}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Adjusting to Impact: A study of research impact evaluation in Norway}},
year = {{2022}},
}