ESRC Symposium: New approaches to assessing the

impact of social science research

Grafton Hotel, London, May 12-13, 2005

Impact of Social Research – a Nordic perspective

Director Merete Konnerup, Nordic Campbell Center (NC2)

Nordic Campbell Center

Inaugurated 2002 with main focus on Social Work & Welfare Policies

First regional centre in the Campbell Collaboration

Budget: £ ½ million/year financed by the Danish Government

Presently financing and supporting 10+ reviews-in-progress

WWW.NC2.NET

Why funding? And why now?

Reasons:

Limits to growth of Nordic welfare state

Users/tax payers demand more & better services

The Nordic Welfare State

S.O.SBudget

XXX

Why funding? And why now?

Reasons: Limits to growth of Nordic welfare state

(social services 13 per cent of GDP) Users/tax payers demand more & better

servicesResult:

Increased need for prioritization Increased demands for credible

documentation of impactQuestion: What Works?

Decisions - what are they based on?

Experience & expert opinions

Judgement

Resources

Pragmatism, contingencies

ValuesHabits & traditions

Public opinion & pressure

groups

Evidence

Social Science fields informing policy & practice

EvidenceImplimentation… Economic/econometric…

Descriptive

analytical …Attitudinal…

Ethical…

Statis

tical

mod

eling …

Effect…

Practice and policy must be documented

Researcher must do high quality impact

studies

Impact studies must

be synthesized

What does it take to inform policy and practice

on the impact of interventions?

Some key players in the impact game

Media

Generel public

Social Scientist

Politician

Public employee

Impact

Politician/general public & impact of research

Barriers Enablers

Needs a story

Needs timeliness

Needs availability

High quality intermediate institutions

Media & impact of research Barriers Enablers

Needs a story

Needs clear statements

Needs them now

The media loves researchers

Strong social science tradition for participating in public debate

Public employee & impact of research Barriers Solutions

Don’t necessarily “miss research”

Lack of strong critical appraisal skills

Strong tradition for freedom of choice of “method”

Tools for pushing research

More focus on continuing education

More collaboration between public employees and researchers

Social Scientist & impact of researchBarriers Enablers

Few master high quality studies of the effect of interventions

Suspiciousness towards applied policy research

Suspiciousness towards generalization of results

”Which interventions work” needs to be combined with ”what works” in dissemi-nation & implimen-tation

More interdisciplinary collaboration

More research on transferability