News

Should research grants be given on the basis of papers and citations - or are there better and fairer ways of measuring quality and impact of research in the humanities, arts and social sciences?

24 February 2005

Source:	Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (Aus)

CHASS is conducting a research project, commissioned by DEST, to identify new measures for the HASS sector: have your say.

We are looking for NEW ideas, new ways of measuring quality and impact, and would be interested in your views on the following five questions. By the end of March, please.

Please send responses directly to Dr Jonathan Powles, at: jonathan.powles@anu.edu.au

1) Research outcomes in humanities, arts and social sciences take a wide variety of forms. In addition to books and scholarly articles, research may result in artistic works; film and multimedia works; policy reports for the public and private sector; opinion and analysis in the popular press and other media; and others.

Question 1: What are the implications of this diversity for any genuine assessment of the value of research in the sector?

2) Many measures already exist for assessing the quality of research, such as citation impact, and peer review such as is conducted in the British Research Assessment Exercise.

Question 2: What forms of assessment of quality are most appropriate for humanities, arts and social sciences research in Australia?

3) Assessing the "impact" of research in our sector is both more difficult and, arguably, more important than for research in the scientific disciplines. Beyond its impact in the academic world, humanities, arts and social sciences research may contribute to policy development; inform the public at large on issues of social and cultural concern; make scholarly, artistic and commercial contributions to the nation; and, through research-based education, shape the thinking of the next generation of Australians.

Question 3: How the value of this impact best assessed?
Question 4: How important is it to evaluate this impact, as opposed to simply evaluating "quality" in purely academic or artistic terms?

4) Humanities, arts and social sciences research is publicly funded from a wide variety of sources. As well as university block grants, and contestable research funding through the ARC and other bodies, research may be commissioned by government departments or the private sector. It can be funded through national, state and local bodies, from arts grants by the Australia Council, to locally-funded community history initiatives. Both the funding and the research itself tends to be jointly managed between the public and private sectors. Research funded in these diverse ways has equally diverse goals - and therefore, different measures of success.

Question 5: How is this diversity best captured in any set of measures of quality and impact?