Creative Writing Workshops and the Narrative Construction of Self: Using Oral History to Explore the Impact of Public Engagement in the Arts and Humanities

Abstract

ABSTRACT The measurement and evaluation of the nonacademic impact of publicly funded university research have been important components of the funding model that has existed in the UK higher education sector since 2014, the year in which “research impact” was incorporated into the Research Excellence Framework (REF) as a key performance indicator. Chief among the methodological challenges created by the impact agenda is the need to develop mechanisms to capture and evaluate the longer-term impact of research findings beyond the academy. This paper responds to this need by offering a case study of the positive role a combined life-history and narrative analysis methodology can play in capturing the deeper subjective impacts of public engagement activity. Drawing upon the authors’ experience of public engagement and an analysis of semistructured interviews with nonacademic partners, the paper demonstrates how research impact reception functions as a plural and differential process that is personally and socially mediated. Based on this finding, it argues that research evaluation mechanisms need to be sensitively calibrated to facilitate a fuller appreciation of the emotional, situational, and historical dynamics that shape the impact of public engagement activity.