From chain to net: assessing interdisciplinary contributions to academic impact through narrative case studies

Ross, Catharine; Nichol, Lynn; Elliott, Carole; Sambrook, Sally; Stewart, Jim

doi:10.1080/03075079.2020.1723522

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…These suggest a broker role for AL in KT, facilitating that translation of knowledge 'in different directions' (Waerass and Nielsen 2016, 237). A similar brokerage role, facilitating the transformation rather than just the transmission of knowledge, has been argued for HRD (Ross et al 2020b). Conceptions of AL and HRD themselves, however, are varied, and this is reflected in the discourses used in relation to them, far from all incorporating the 'peripheral' role and 'critical repertoire ' Lawless (2008) advocates.…”

Section: Inter-organisational Learning and Ktmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…In the UK, the Government has recently introduced two approaches to understanding the contribution of academia to practice, the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) and Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) creating with the more established Research Evaluation Framework (REF) a 'performance evaluation system for our universities' (UKRI 2017, p.1). The 2014 and 2021 REF exercises assessed economic and societal research impact through case studies (Ross et al 2020b). KEF seeks to extend this by focusing on knowledge exchange between universities and business.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Discourses of practice: an examination of KEF and its effects on the AL/HRD community

Ross

Nichol

Elliott

et al. 2021

Action Learning: Research and Practice

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The contribution of scholarship to practice is an on-going concern of the AL/HRD community. This paper explores how one influential discourse may shape AL/HRD's understanding of that contribution. In 2020 the UK Government implemented the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) to gather data on English Universities' knowledge exchange activities. Using Gee's tools of enquiry and building tasks we undertook discourse analysis of two key KEF texts to explore its likely impact on the AL/HRD community's understanding. We compare the discourses used in those texts with three AL/HRD orders of discourse identified in existing literature to explore which if any are reinforced by the KEF discourses, and the potential material consequences this may have for AL/HRD understandings and practice. We find evidence of performance/performance discourses but no evidence of learning/emancipatory and critical discourses in the first text, but some limited elements of learning/emancipatory and critical discourses in the second. In contrast to models of interorganisational learning, analysis of other texts referred to in this second source suggests that this change did not arise from the documented formal processes but micro-level informal interactions. We suggest this gives individual AL/HRD community members the space to develop alternative, non-performance discourses and practices of knowledge exchange.

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Section: Inter-organisational Learning and Ktmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discourses of practice: an examination of KEF and its effects on the AL/HRD community

Ross

Nichol

Elliott

et al. 2021

Action Learning: Research and Practice

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Interdisciplinarity represents the transfer of knowledge, methods, and information from one or more scientific fields to another, which, although it exceeds disciplinary boundaries in terms of the goal, remains within them (Nicolescu 2014). Interdisciplinarity implies the "sharing of purpose and methods and a recognition that the theories, perspectives, tools, and findings of one discipline cannot always solve or illuminate the problem it is trying to solve" (Ross et al 2021(Ross et al : 2310.…”

Section: Interdisciplinary Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Resource Development – the Intersection of Disciplines?

Ovesni

2023

DHS

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This paper considers how, as a relatively young academic discipline, human resource development (HRD) has undergone significant changes in terms of research approaches that constitute a relevant sum of scientific knowledge, the influence of related scientific disciplines, and the main research topics since the second decade of the twenty-first century. The results of the analysis of selected texts from five academic journals were presented and discussed in finding answers to three research questions: (1) How is the academic disciplinary framework of human resource development considered in the analyzed texts? (2) Which academic disciplines are considered necessary for building a human resources knowledge base? (3) What research topics are highlighted in the analyzed texts?

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“…In such cases, it may be more difficult to construct an evidence trail, and they may be rendered implausible by their very unexpectedness. Likewise, Ross et al (2020) argue that the underlying logic of impact cases seeks 'chains' of impact (an antecedent, perhaps, of the linear models discussed above) rather than 'nets' in which multiplicities of actors interact to effect change. This places considerable emphasis on attribution of impact to a single principal claimant.…”

Section: Reporting Impact: Ex Post Assessment Of Impact By Refmentioning

confidence: 99%

How unpredictable is research impact? Evidence from the UK’s Research Excellence Framework

Yaqub¹,

Malkov²,

Siepel³

2022

Preprint

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There is growing interest in the wider impact of research outside academia. In particular, there is concern about the extent to which the topic and principal beneficiaries of such impact can be foreseen before research is even funded. Does research impact tend to emerge largely as planned, or are eventual impacts unrecognisable from initial plans?To explore the unexpectedness of impact, we draw on one of the largest research impact assessment exercises in the world - the UK’s Research Excellence Framework. We exploit REF impact traced back to research funding applications, as a dataset of 2,194 case-grant pairs, to compare impact topics with funder remits. For 209 of those pairs, we directly compare their descriptions of ex-ante and ex-post impact.We found impact claims in these case-grant pairs are often congruent with each other, with 76% showing alignment. This indicates that, conditional on REF-inclusion, research delivers impact with largely the same orientation as envisaged at the outset of their projects. This is especially so when research is co-produced with focal stakeholders. These results offer a distinct complement to other preliminary studies on the REF, which have tended to emphasise the vast diversity and complexity of research impact.Our findings suggest that research impact is far from random, and that there is wide scope for policy intervention. In particular, we highlight the potentially important role that collaboration plays in setting the direction of research impact. However, the findings may also signal that the REF is preferentially excluding unpredicted impacts and indirect impacts. This selection effect, where a qualitatively different class of impacts are crowded out, may well be exacerbated as the share of REF rewards is weighted further towards the impact criterion.

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From chain to net: assessing interdisciplinary contributions to academic impact through narrative case studies

Abstract: This is a repository copy of From chain to net : assessing interdisciplinary contributions to academic impact through narrative case studies.

Cited by 7 publications

References 36 publications

Discourses of practice: an examination of KEF and its effects on the AL/HRD community

Discourses of practice: an examination of KEF and its effects on the AL/HRD community

Human Resource Development – the Intersection of Disciplines?

How unpredictable is research impact? Evidence from the UK’s Research Excellence Framework

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