Review: May 2025

Measuring impact is not easy. Here are some common challenges that it helps to be aware of when making a plan for monitoring and evaluating research impact.

• Whose impact it is

• When to capture and assess impact

• When to ask about impact

• The cost of impact assessment

• The role of serendipity

Whose impact it is - Attribution vs contribution

The challenge of any system that evaluates research impact is to ensure that there is a good understanding of the ‘contribution’ and ‘attribution’ relative to the outputs and outcomes that result from the research input and activity.

Attribution can be fractionated or proportionate to the effort made by a research team to create outputs, whereas contribution is reflective of the ability to claim that outcomes or impacts have resulted from the research outputs, regardless of the relative amount of that contribution. A contribution could be funding for a key piece of equipment, or a fellowship grant for a researcher.

It is an important distinction to make and often the two terms are used interchangeably.

When to capture and assess impact  – Time lags

Scientific research is a lengthy and expensive endeavour. On average, it can take 17 years for a scientific discovery to reach the clinic. This provides many options to capture outputs/outcomes and impacts along the way, from the academic impact of a publication within a research field, to the impact of a new treatment for patients.

Knowing when to track and measure the impact of funded research is important. A retrospective analysis of a whole program allows a deep analysis that can feed into discussions on strategy but requires substantial time in set up and data collection, while ongoing data collection from all active/completed grants allows quicker, more flexible analysis.

Surveys of past grant holders take time to manage and analyse, but several member charities have conducted retrospective surveys and produced reports within a year. Other members employ evaluation departments and tools and consider evaluation an on-going part of research management.

Who to ask about impact

It’s important to consider the stakeholders involved in research, who the impact will affect, and who will be interested in it.

End users can include:

Here are some top tips for engaging researchers on the impact of their research:

• Don’t ask for data that you can access from elsewhere, or ask for it multiple times
• Demonstrate how you use the data provided, and don’t ask for things you don’t use
• Carefully consider how, when and the frequency with which you will collect impact information
• Set up impact reporting expectations early, for example in the terms and conditions of grants
• Consider how you could support the researchers and research officers in other ways to make sure it is a partnership
• Be aware of their other reporting obligations (other awards and funders, REF, etc)

The cost of impact assessment

Think about the costs in terms of key resources: money and time of charity staff and the research community. Consider what findings or messages you are looking for and ensure the questions asked and methods used will address that. 

The role of serendipity

The path to research impact is not linear, and luck can play a role in new discoveries, complicating the tracking of the impact of funded research. A great example of this is penicillin, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, which would go on to save 500 million lives.

“When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”

- Alexander Fleming

Other guidance in this section includes:

• Classifying research impact

• Methods for capturing research impact

• Types of impact evaluation

• Communicating research impact

• Using theory of change to evaluate the impact of funded research

• Research impact