Abstract

AbstractOf all the social sciences, social policy is one of the most obviously policy-orientated. One might, therefore, expect a research and funding agenda which prioritises and rewards policy relevance to garner an enthusiastic response among social policy scholars. Yet, the social policy response to the way in which major funders and the Research Excellence Framework (REF) are now prioritising ‘impact’ has been remarkably muted. Elsewhere in the social sciences, ‘research impact’ is being widely debated and a wealth of concerns about the way in which this agenda is being pursued are being articulated. Here, we argue there is an urgent need for social policy academics to join this debate. First, we employ interviews with academics involved in health inequalities research, undertaken between 2004 and 2015, to explore perceptions, and experiences, of the ‘impact agenda’ (an analysis which is informed by a review of guidelines for assessing ‘impact’ and relevant academic literature). Next, we analyse high- and low-scoring REF2014 impact case studies to assess whether these concerns appear justified. We conclude by outlining how social policy expertise might usefully contribute to efforts to encourage, measure and reward research ‘impact’.

Highlights

  • Social policy is a diverse, inchoate discipline but consistent features of recent definitions include an applied, policy-orientated focus, a desire to make a positive impact on society and a commitment to engaging beyond academia (e.g. Alcock, 2012; Social Policy Association, 2009)

  • We argue that a discipline explicitly founded on the pursuit of real world improvements should at least be debating an ostensible shift towards recognition of our preferred mode of working

  • This article focuses largely on the 52 interviews with academic researchers, around a quarter of whom were currently, or had recently been, based in social policy units and most of whom reported being entered into Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 Unit of Assessment 40 and/or REF2014 Unit of Assessment 22

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Social policy is a diverse, inchoate discipline but consistent features of recent definitions include an applied, policy-orientated focus, a desire to make a positive impact on society and a commitment to engaging beyond academia (e.g. Alcock, 2012; Social Policy Association, 2009). Alcock, 2012; Social Policy Association, 2009). This is not merely a matter of selfperception; recent research on the external impact of the social sciences identifies social policy researchers as among the most ‘externally mentioned’ (Bastow et al, 2014: 56). We argue that a discipline explicitly founded on the pursuit of real world improvements should at least be debating an ostensible shift towards recognition of our preferred mode of working. This engagement need not be uncritical; we need to talk about impact

Methods
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call