A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social and behavioral scientists
One reason that many social scientists care about impact is that they see in social science the promise of and a path for knowledge – data, analysis, concepts – shaping the world they want to make.
If traditional filters of prestige are themselves steeped in a set of tacit values that may no longer adequately respect the modes of labor (or the laborers themselves), then when better to step back for a moment to ask what we are counting — and why?
Not one single metric can encapsulate the importance of a field, notes Digital Science’s Mike Taylor, and in fields where broader uptake is slower, this is especially true.
Organization studies professor Laura Rovelli, one of the advisory board members for the Declaration on Research Assessment, or DORA, discusses some of the components of impact beyond citation count and how we can harness those components.
In this second response to Ziyad Marar’s thought piece “On Measuring Social Science Impact” from Organizational Studies, Anne-Wil Harzing, professor of international management and staff development lead at Middlesex University Business School, sets the stage for further discussion by defining impact in terms of progressing scientific knowledge, developing critical thinking, and addressing societal problems.
In this first response to Ziyad Marar’s thought piece “On Measuring Social Science Impact,” professor Sue Fletcher-Watson, who represents a field where the direct purpose is to improve the quality of life for a group of individuals, shares why current metrics fall short and what we can do about it.
On Measuring Social Science Impact: An Excerpt and Responses The following essay by Ziyad Marar is adapted from “On Measuring […]
