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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