As previously mentioned, qualitative impact indicators can be as compelling as a suite of quantitative metrics. Often, we know about the impact of our work through more direct means — for example, a colleague who emails to follow up on a conference presentation you gave, or a comment left on a YouTube video thanking you for sharing your information. As before, the measures should directly relate to your impact audience(s) but can take many forms and may take a bit of effort to collect.
For example, inclusion in syllabi is an excellent demonstration of student impact. You can search Open Syllabus and Google for available syllabi; however, many syllabi are available on these forums, so you may need to rely on personal knowledge, such as the teacher or a student mentioning your inclusion in a syllabus, or access to a tool like Google Analytics to see how others are discovering your work.
The best impact measures are those that tell a story about the effect your research had, particularly for non-scholarly audiences. For example, co-authoring a document for librarian practitioners, then seeing the material used or cited in a training exercise for librarians demonstrates not only impact but also how your impact aligns with the greater purpose or goals for your works. The number of individuals interacting via social media is useful, but the content of a social media post may provide additional context. The snippet below shows a (now former) MLIS student responding to Fobazi Ettarh’s article on vocational awe, linking to it from their own student blog (aka “Pingback”), and reflecting on how the concept relates to their experience as a teacher.
A screenshot of a comment on Fobazi Ettarh’s article from In the Library With the Lead Pipe.
Another example of a way to collect this kind of evidence is through surveys or other evaluative tools. Administering an evaluation form at the end of a presentation not only helps to better understand the audience’s perception but also can help gauge the likelihood of attendees incorporating or using the information provided in the future — if you ask the appropriate questions.
A review is another type of impact indicator. Most commonly, we see published reviews for monographs, but wholistically, scholarly outputs are often reviewed in a variety of contexts. For instance, a blog post or podcast may discuss or critique a journal article, or someone may share their thoughts via social media. This kind of “post-production” review can sometimes serve as its own form of peer review, particularly for scholarly outputs that don’t undergo a peer review process prior to publication. Reviews provide rich context for your work and are a common form of evaluation in several disciplines, most notably in the humanities who tend to rely on monographs more heavily as a form of scholarly communication. Thinking broadly about the ways in which your scholarship may have been reviewed by other scholars or experts can help demonstrate impact in a deeply meaningful way.
You may also want to return to Lesson 5.2: Promoting Your Work for additional tools and strategies for sharing your work to a broader audience.
Activity
Complete the following reflective activity. You will answer a series of questions, and you may write down your answers in your LPOL Workbook or elsewhere.
Use the 5.3.4: Research ImpactResearch impactA way to describe and measure the ways in which research causes some sort of positive impact on a community. Research impact can be measured through quantitative or qualitative data.
worksheet in your LPOL Workbook or answer the following prompts elsewhere:
Think about a recent or forthcoming research project that might benefit from an evaluation tool. What questions can you ask to better understand the current or potential impact of your research on those who encounter it? How can you design an evaluation tool that reduces barriers to participation while providing you with useful information? This could be as simple as a way for someone to give a “thumbs up” or 1-5 rating, or a longer form of evaluation where others can give categorical or descriptive feedback.
Other Indicators of Impact
As previously mentioned, qualitative impact indicators can be as compelling as a suite of quantitative metrics. Often, we know about the impact of our work through more direct means — for example, a colleague who emails to follow up on a conference presentation you gave, or a comment left on a YouTube video thanking you for sharing your information. As before, the measures should directly relate to your impact audience(s) but can take many forms and may take a bit of effort to collect.
For example, inclusion in syllabi is an excellent demonstration of student impact. You can search Open Syllabus and Google for available syllabi; however, many syllabi are available on these forums, so you may need to rely on personal knowledge, such as the teacher or a student mentioning your inclusion in a syllabus, or access to a tool like Google Analytics to see how others are discovering your work.
The best impact measures are those that tell a story about the effect your research had, particularly for non-scholarly audiences. For example, co-authoring a document for librarian practitioners, then seeing the material used or cited in a training exercise for librarians demonstrates not only impact but also how your impact aligns with the greater purpose or goals for your works. The number of individuals interacting via social media is useful, but the content of a social media post may provide additional context. The snippet below shows a (now former) MLIS student responding to Fobazi Ettarh’s article on vocational awe, linking to it from their own student blog (aka “Pingback”), and reflecting on how the concept relates to their experience as a teacher.
Another example of a way to collect this kind of evidence is through surveys or other evaluative tools. Administering an evaluation form at the end of a presentation not only helps to better understand the audience’s perception but also can help gauge the likelihood of attendees incorporating or using the information provided in the future — if you ask the appropriate questions.
A review is another type of impact indicator. Most commonly, we see published reviews for monographs, but wholistically, scholarly outputs are often reviewed in a variety of contexts. For instance, a blog post or podcast may discuss or critique a journal article, or someone may share their thoughts via social media. This kind of “post-production” review can sometimes serve as its own form of peer review, particularly for scholarly outputs that don’t undergo a peer review process prior to publication. Reviews provide rich context for your work and are a common form of evaluation in several disciplines, most notably in the humanities who tend to rely on monographs more heavily as a form of scholarly communication. Thinking broadly about the ways in which your scholarship may have been reviewed by other scholars or experts can help demonstrate impact in a deeply meaningful way.
You may also want to return to Lesson 5.2: Promoting Your Work for additional tools and strategies for sharing your work to a broader audience.
Activity
Complete the following reflective activity. You will answer a series of questions, and you may write down your answers in your LPOL Workbook or elsewhere.
Use the 5.3.4: Research ImpactResearch impact A way to describe and measure the ways in which research causes some sort of positive impact on a community. Research impact can be measured through quantitative or qualitative data. worksheet in your LPOL Workbook or answer the following prompts elsewhere:
Think about a recent or forthcoming research project that might benefit from an evaluation tool. What questions can you ask to better understand the current or potential impact of your research on those who encounter it? How can you design an evaluation tool that reduces barriers to participation while providing you with useful information? This could be as simple as a way for someone to give a “thumbs up” or 1-5 rating, or a longer form of evaluation where others can give categorical or descriptive feedback.
Topic 4 References
Ettarh, Fobazi. “Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves – In the Library with the Lead Pipe.” In the Library with the Lead Pipe. January 2018. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/.
“Open Syllabus.” Accessed May 31, 2023. https://opensyllabus.org/.