The document discusses impact by design in social science research. It defines impact according to the ESRC as having economic and societal benefits, wider social impacts, and effects on government policy. Impact occurs through world-class research, skilled people, infrastructure, international leadership, and partnerships. The document outlines four key elements of impact by design: understanding the user community through stakeholder mapping; engaging the user community early in the research process; building robust, significant, and relevant evidence; and targeted communication through different channels suited to various user groups.

1. Impact by design
Stephen Roper
Stephen.roper@wbs.ac.uk

2. Impact is …
• Impact is according to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC):
– ‘…the concept of impact in the social sciences applies to all sectors … It
embraces economic and societal impact in the sense of direct and often
quantifiable economic benefits; wider social impacts that will benefit society
more generally such as effects on the environment, public health or quality of
life; and impacts on government policy, the third sector and professional
practice’.
• And occurs through a range of different routes - The 5 ‘I’s…
– Impact through world class social science research
– Impact through skilled people
– Impact through world class infrastructure
– Impact through international leadership
– Impact through partnerships
• And it matters because research can change the world and improve lives but also –
for us – as research quality and impact metrics will (probably) have equal weight in
the next REF.

3. Mapping
Build evidence
Engagement
Impact
Communicate
Impact by design…
Aim today:
To share some experienced based
reflections on impact and how we can
design impact in from the outset of a
project.
Four key elements ->

4. Impact by design – 1:
Understanding the user community
• Consider conducting a ‘stakeholder
review’ or ‘stakeholder mapping exercise’
• Discussions with potential users to
identify ‘interest’ and ‘influence’. (Also
promotes awareness too).
• Subjective of course but provides basis for
targeting relationship development and
dissemination
• Used very effectively by Henry Overman
at LSE Centre for Spatial Economics
Influence
Interest

5. Impact by design -2:
Engaging the user community
• Increasingly ESRC and other
research councils are looking to
see user engagement in project
definitions. Will not define focus
of work but may determine
priorities or contingent issues.
• Early interaction may also create
the potential for partnering and
help with issues of access where
this is a problem.
• How? Lead users. Reference
Groups. Irish cheese example.
• Research is about knowledge
production but can be:
– Mode 1 – the traditional,
investigator-initiated, curiosity-led
and discipline-based
approach
– Mode 2 is problem-focused and
interdisciplinary. Limoges
(1996:14-15) wrote –
– 'research carried out in a context of
application, arising from the very
work of problem solving and not
governed by the paradigms of
traditional disciplines of knowledge’.
• What do you engage in?

6. Impact by design -3:
Building the evidence
• Evidence needs to be:
• (1) Robust ….
– Are samples large and representative ?
– Are survey methods/measures robust?
– Are analysis methods rigorous?
(2) Significant …
– Statistical significance is not enough.
Provide evidence of both statistical
significance and economic and social
importance
• (3) Relevant
– Does it address policy question?
– Is it available in a timely enough manner?
• Assessing the evidence we can provide needs
a reflexive approach. PhD example
• Evidence and evidence-based
policy
• Internationally, the ‘movement
for evidence based policy’ has
re-emphasised the value of
evidence in policy design and
development. Lunn (2013, p.
99), for example, quotes the US
Coalition for Evidence-Based
policy as follows:
•
• ‘… to increase government
effectiveness through the use of
rigorous evidence about what
works’ [because] ‘… a concerted
government effort to build the
number of these proven
interventions, and spur their
widespread use, could bring
rapid progress to social policy
similar to that which
transformed medicine’.

7. Impact by design – 4:
Communication
• Who reads academic papers apart from
us? Few people!
• Lessons from the ERC experience:
– No substitute for F2F interaction
– Blackberries are poor with attachments
– One page good, four pages bad
– Communication needs to be targeted (and
invested in)
– Think beyond the paper or the website
– Always think about the story
• Different types of dissemination or
• The UK-US Ambition Gap
knowledge transfer exist all with different
advantages – perhaps key point is that we
need different ‘channels’ for different
user groups

8. Source: Perkmann and Walsh (2007)
Impact by design - 4:
Communication channels

9. Impact by design – 5:
Evidencing impact
• Is very often difficult! No simple answers.
• Key issues, reflecting those in standard policy evaluations are:
– identifying and estimating effects on outcomes
– establishing causality and attribution
– being clear about contingent influences/barriers to impact
– Providing convincing evidence
• No clear methodology except documentary or narrative
approach so important to keep good notes and maintain
contact with potential users

10. Mapping
Build evidence
Engagement
Impact
Communicate
Impact by design…
Thank you ….