The Holy Grail of ‘Research Impact’

Marta Natalia Wróblewska

University of WarwickDISCONEX project

19.11.15, Professional and Academic Discourse (PAD),Centre for Applied Linguistics, Warwick University

Plan of presentation

Topic and research questionsTheoryMethods How to corroborate your research impact?

Some initial findings Bibliography + Q&A

What is research ‘impact’and why study it (1/2) ‘Impact agenda’ introduced with REF 2014 ‘Impact’ – ‘an effect on, change or benefit to

the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’

Academic units submit 1 impact case study per ~10 active researchers.

CSs assessed by ‘expert panels’, to account for 20% of the overall score

What is research ‘impact’ and why study it (2/2)

Why is’ research impact’ of interest for discourse analysts?

Discursive interest

Critical interest

Personal interest

Research questions

How did ‘impact’ surface in discourse & policy? Academic evaluation – between peer review

& metricsStructural transformations in higher

education (‘academic capitalism’)Relationship between academia and the non-

academic world

How does ‘impact’ work?Emergence of a common understanding of

‘impact’ ‘Political’ uses of ‘impact’ Influence on academic careers and research

Theory – some notions

Drawing from many disciplines: Discourse Analysis, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Sociology of Valuation and Evaluation

Michel Foucault: Governmentality Genealogy & archeology Problematisation

Michèle Lamont: Hierarchy vs. heterarchy Boundary work

Corpus of texts + methods

3 disciplines – linguistics, sociology, philosophy 2 sets of data

case studies from 3 disciplines (around 300) Interviews with actors involved with REF

2014 (directors of research, authors of CSs, policy-makers, panelists)

Data analysis case studies : elements of genre analysis &

rhetoric interviews : ‘boundary work’,

‘governmentality’, ‘erasing’

Initial findings – pilot

20 CSs in sociology analyzed looking for rules of genre diversity in style, formatting, referencing…title - only section of CS which are

standardizedlittle details on research, focus on providing

evidence for ‘impact’variety of ‘corroborative techniques’

Initial findings How to corroborate your research impact? Most frequent ‘corroborative techniques’ testimonials (76 coded references) numbers (75) professional collaborations (67)accounts of interest from media (49)

Initial findings Corroborating research impact – testimonialstestimonials from:(experts and practitioners –

43, policymakers – 12, members of public – 7, reviewers – 3)

VIPs (17): Gillian Tett of the Financial Times, one of the world’s most

prominent financial journalists, has drawn on X’s work several times

Followers include politicians such as Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, members of every political party in the UK, international organisations like the European Union, NATO and the White House, social movements and victim rights activists, and world leaders like Nelson Mandela

(X’s research) informs the plot of John le Carré’s novel, Our Kind of Traitor. The author acknowledges him

Initial findings Corroborating research impact – numbers (1/2) The X Report has been downloaded over 50,000 times since

publication in February 2012;

(the podcast based on the research) will have a 10 year lifespan and is expected to reach at least 8000 history students;

480 copies (of a pamphlet) have been distributed by TWN at international environmental policy-making meetings;

Prospect magazine naming X amongst the 25 intellectuals with most impact on the “public conversation” about the financial crisis;

The novel (drawing on the research) sold 132,000 copies in the United Kingdom in 2011, making it the 89th bestselling book

Twitter: Currently, 8,081 Twitter followers (…) the Facebook account had received 586 ‘likes’;

Through its direct impact on these individuals and organisations, the research has delivered indirect benefits to millions of children and adults around the world.

Initial findings Corroborating research impact – numbers (2/2)Professor X’s sociological research Y has become a

central reference point for journalists, film makers, writers, artists, curators, archaeologists, and activists

The research findings have also benefitted action groups, peace practitioners, churches and other civil society groups in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and elsewhere

The research has subsequently influenced national policy in Rwanda, professional standards and best practice for development workers in Africa and Asia, social work practice for professionals in the United Kingdom, and legal representation in the USA

Next steps:

Analysis of CSs in other disciplinesAnalysis of the use of numbers Interviews

Bibliography

• Angermuller, J. (2013). Discours académique et gouvernementalité entrepreneuriale. Des textes aux chiffres’. In M. Temmar, J. Angermuller, F. Lebaron (Ed.), Les discours sur l'économie. Paris: PUF.

• Foucault, M., Burchell, G., Gordon, C., & Miller, P. (1991). The Foucault effect : studies in governmentality : with two lectures by and an interview with Michel Foucault. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Lamont, M. l. (2009). How professors think : inside the curious world of academic judgment. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

• Lamont, M. (2012). Toward a Comparative Sociology of Valuation and Evaluation. Annual Review of Sociology, 38(21), 201-221.

• Munch, R. (2014). Academic capitalism : universities in the global struggle for excellence. New York: Routledge.

• Sayer, D. (2015). Rank hypocrisies : the insult of the REF. Los Angeles: Sage.

• Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis : English in academic and research settings. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press.