How can I evaluate and analyse whether the project is having the intended social impact? Evaluation and Recommendations - Integrating society through evaluation processes and measuring the impact of social interactions in research projectsSocial Impact: Indicators Matrix. Measuring the social interactions in research projects

Social Impact: Indicators Matrix. Measuring the social interactions in research projects

The matrix, which is based on the premise that social inclusiveness is related to the sustainability of our strategies and methods, explores ways to identify, measure, or monitor how the work carried out in our academic projects may impact on the social fabric and its inhabitants. A series of phases that are common in research projects are proposed, connecting these to three knowledge-building dimensions where stakeholders can identify themselves: the scientific or academic, the institutional and the social. In addition, an internal evaluation dimension is proposed, which serves to monitor and include possible rectifications to the societal character of our research, being a tool that can be extrapolated to other projects involved in the application of collaborative academia-society projects.

For each project phase, a set of comprehensive indicators and a series of methods to measure its scope are proposed. These indicators seek to monitor whether the project has continuous interaction with the social stakeholders in an orientated way. This matrix can be extrapolated to other research projects in the social sciences and humanities fields. One of its objectives is to bridge the gap that usually exists between academic output and epistemic knowledge transfer. It seeks to help to co-create science, which means working "with people" and not "for people". As it is arranged by phases and separate indicators (described in the deliverable), any user can adapt the indicators to the different stages of their projects.

 

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