Assessment and evaluation

This page is for Oxford Brookes University staff. Its purpose is to explain internal processes to staff members. It was moved into its current location on the website in Autumn 2022.

Page content is being revised to reflect the move to the new Research, Innovation and Enterprise Directorate.

As your research progresses, it is important to reflect on what is working (or not) and to assess the development of your impact. This can happen at the end of your research but is much more effective if completed as you go along, as this gives you the opportunity to adjust course, if required. However, avoid evaluating too soon, as the impact may be too immature to assess.

Consider how your research is having impact. Where were you starting from (the baseline) and what, if anything, has changed? Is the impact positive (or negative); is it what you expected or is it unintended; is it direct or indirect (i.e. the impact has happened via a more diffuse route than anticipated), or still nascent? Maintain regular contact with your stakeholders to monitor if the project is delivering impact for them, and in what ways.

Metrics Toolkit

The Metrics Toolkit is a resource that provides guidance for demonstrating and evaluating claims of research impact. It helps you to quickly understand what a metric means, how it is calculated, and if it’s good match for your impact question.