Transcript 5 - Merete Konnerup

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.S
Budget
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
services
Result:
 Increased need for prioritization
 Increased demands for credible
documentation of impact
Question: What Works?
Decisions what are they based on?
Public opinion
& pressure
groups
Pragmatism,
contingencies
Judgemen
t
Evidence
Habits &
traditions
Experience
& expert
opinions
Values
Resources
Social Science fields
informing policy & practice
Ethical…
Evidence
Implimentation…
What does it take to
inform policy and practice
on the impact of interventions?
Impact
studies must
be synthesized
Researcher must do
high quality impact
studies
Practice and policy must be
documented
Some key players
in the impact game
Public
employee
Media
Politician
Impact
Generel
public
Social
Scientist
Politician/general public &
impact of research
Barriers
 Needs a story
 Needs timeliness
 Needs availability
Enablers
 High quality
intermediate
institutions
Media & impact of research
Barriers
 Needs a story
 Needs clear
statements
 Needs them now
Enablers
 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 research
Barriers
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 dissemination & implimentation
 More
interdisciplinary
collaboration
 More research on
transferability