How do you tailor research impact methods for different research types and stages?

1 Define your impact goals

Before you choose any impact methods, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your research and how you will measure it. Your impact goals should be aligned with your research question, purpose, and scope, as well as with the expectations and needs of your funders, collaborators, and beneficiaries. You should also consider the potential positive and negative impacts of your research, and how you will mitigate any risks or harms. A useful tool for defining your impact goals is the logic model, which maps out the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts of your research project.

2 Choose your impact methods

Once you have your impact goals, you can select the most appropriate methods to collect and analyze evidence of your impact. There are many impact methods available, such as surveys, interviews, case studies, bibliometrics, altmetrics, social media analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and so on. However, not all methods are suitable for every research type and stage. For example, if your research is exploratory or theoretical, you may not have direct or immediate impacts on end-users or policy-makers, but you may have academic impacts on your peers or discipline. In this case, you may want to use bibliometrics or altmetrics to track your citations, downloads, mentions, or views. On the other hand, if your research is applied or translational, you may have more tangible and practical impacts on your target audience or sector. In this case, you may want to use surveys, interviews, or case studies to capture their feedback, experiences, or changes in behavior or practice.

3 Adapt your impact methods

Sometimes, you may need to adapt your impact methods to fit your specific research context and constraints. For example, if your research is interdisciplinary or cross-sectoral, you may need to use a combination of methods to capture the diverse and complex impacts of your research across different domains and stakeholders. You may also need to use different methods at different stages of your research project, such as formative, summative, or longitudinal methods. Formative methods are used to monitor and improve your research process and outputs, such as peer review, user testing, or stakeholder engagement. Summative methods are used to evaluate and demonstrate your research outcomes and impacts, such as impact case studies, testimonials, or indicators. Longitudinal methods are used to track and assess your research impacts over time, such as follow-up surveys, interviews, or metrics.

4 Validate your impact evidence

One of the challenges of assessing research impact is to ensure the validity and reliability of your impact evidence. This means that your evidence should be credible, accurate, consistent, and relevant to your impact goals and claims. To validate your impact evidence, you can use several strategies, such as triangulation, verification, attribution, and contribution. Triangulation means using multiple sources, methods, or perspectives to corroborate your evidence and reduce bias. Verification means checking the quality, accuracy, and authenticity of your data and sources. Attribution means establishing the causal link between your research and the impact, and accounting for other factors or influences. Contribution means acknowledging the role and contribution of other actors or partners in your impact pathway.

5 Communicate your impact story

The final step of tailoring your impact methods is to communicate your impact story effectively and persuasively to your intended audience. Your impact story should be clear, concise, and compelling, and highlight the significance, relevance, and value of your research impact. You should also tailor your impact story to the format, style, and language of your communication channel, such as a report, presentation, blog, podcast, or infographic. You should also use appropriate visual aids, such as graphs, charts, images, or videos, to illustrate your impact evidence and enhance your impact story.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?