Impact”, research and slaying Zombies
The pressures and possibilities of the REF
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7104292 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raymond Macdonald (0000-0003-0404-0256, Teesside University, corresponding author), Robert Macdonald (0000-0002-3496-9886) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 11-12 |
| Pages | 696-710 |
| Publication date | 2017-10-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-333X • E-ISSN: 1758-6720 |
| Publisher | Emerald Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1108/ijssp-04-2016-0047 |
| OpenAlex | W2576504187 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 17 |
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect critically upon current debates and tensions in the governance of research in the UK and more widely, particularly the imperative that social science research should demonstrate impact beyond the academy. Design/methodology/approach Drawing implicitly upon the Bevir’s theory of governance, the paper positions discourses about “research excellence and research impact” as elite narratives that are rooted genealogically in forms of managerial audit culture which seek to govern the practices of social science academics. The paper reviews relevant literature, draws upon key contributions that have shaped debate and refers to the author’s own research and experiences of “research impact”. Findings Initiatives such as the UK’s “Research Excellence Framework” can be understood as a form of governance that further enables already present neo-liberalising tendencies in the academy. The “impact agenda” has both negative (e.g. it can distort research priorities and can lead to overstatement of “real world” effects) and positive potential (e.g. to provide institutional space for work towards social justice, in line with long-standing traditions of critical social science and “public sociology”). Research limitations/implications There is a need for more critical research and theoretical reflection on the value, threats, limitations and potential of current forms of research governance and “impact”. Originality/value To date, there are very few article-length, critical discussions of these developments and issues in research governance, even fewer that connect these debates to longer-standing radical imperatives in social science
Corporate governance · Economics · Elite · Excellence · Management · Originality · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public sociology · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Data Analysis and Archiving · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
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Improving impact infrastructure
Writing impact case studies
What’s the use of educational research? Six stories reflecting on research use with communities
Expertise as contingency-reduction
Resilient Scholarship in the Digital Age
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Negotiating structural barriers to environmental collaborations in doctoral programmes
The political economy of politics and international studies impact
Co-option, control and criticality
Online Surveillance, Censorship, and Encryption in Academia
University-Based Researchers as Knowledge Brokers for Climate Policies and Action
Managing and Incentivising Research Impact
Decentring social policy
The shape of things that are and were’ and ‘the shape of things to come’
Social Work Research in the UK
Societal Impact as ‘Rituals of Verification’ and The Co-Production of Knowledge
Unsettling the Anti-Welfare Commonsense
Advancing the Impact of Critical Qualitative Research on Policy, Practice, and Science
Capitalism and Freedom
The idea of poverty
For Public Sociology
Impacted geographers
The politics of social justice in neoliberal times
Whose side are we on and for whom do we write? Notes on issues and challenges facing those researching and evaluating public policy
In search of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’
The Myth of “Broken Britain”
Geographies of impact
Living with the H-Index? Metric Assemblages in the Contemporary Academy
Viewpoint — The Impact of ‘Impact’ on UK Social Science
Performance Anxiety
Whose Side Are We On
Charitable organisations, the Great Recession and the Age of Austerity
We Need to Talk about Impact
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,11 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |