TY - JOUR
T1 - A content analysis of how STEM education researchers discuss the impact of their publicly-supported research
AU - London, Jeremi
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by NSF Grant #1123340. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The author would also like to acknowledge her dissertation committee and Samantha Cruz for the feedback they provided throughout various phases of this study.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgements—This project was supported by NSF Grant #1123340. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The author would also like to acknowledge her dissertation committee and Samantha Cruz for the feedback they provided throughout various phases of this study.
Funding Information:
Although NSF has well-established criteria for selecting which proposals to fund and standard processes for sharing project-related updates during the grant lifecycle, a consistent way to determine the extent to which federally funded projects are making a difference is lacking [4–7]. The current reporting mechanisms capture individual project outcomes but do not facilitate comparisons of impact across projects or over time. Without a way to characterize and ultimately evaluate the impact of NSF-funded research and educa-
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 TEMPUS Publications.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Impact is a topic of interest among a wide range of stakeholders interested in engineering workforce development but is one in which there is a dearth of scholarship. While existing literature includes two dimensions of research impact (scientific, and societal), this qualitative study proposes and focuses on the third dimension—contextual impact. Using Toulmin’s Model and the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development, this study uses content analysis to explore how researchers on National Science Foundation-funded STEM education R&D projects talk about the impact of their work in abstracts (n = 155) with an explicit impact section; special attention is given to engineering education research. Findings reveal eight claims that are commonly discussed when Principal Investigators articulate research impact; two themes relate to how their claims are supported. The findings also indicate that the discipline associated with the study and the project focus has more to do with the types of impact PIs claim than the amount of funding awarded to the project. The proposed SCS Impact Framework resulted from identifying the points of alignment between PIs’ perspectives on impact and existing literature. This conceptual lens describing impact in this context is useful for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers around the world interested in the scientific, contextual, and societal dimensions of engineering education R&D.
AB - Impact is a topic of interest among a wide range of stakeholders interested in engineering workforce development but is one in which there is a dearth of scholarship. While existing literature includes two dimensions of research impact (scientific, and societal), this qualitative study proposes and focuses on the third dimension—contextual impact. Using Toulmin’s Model and the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development, this study uses content analysis to explore how researchers on National Science Foundation-funded STEM education R&D projects talk about the impact of their work in abstracts (n = 155) with an explicit impact section; special attention is given to engineering education research. Findings reveal eight claims that are commonly discussed when Principal Investigators articulate research impact; two themes relate to how their claims are supported. The findings also indicate that the discipline associated with the study and the project focus has more to do with the types of impact PIs claim than the amount of funding awarded to the project. The proposed SCS Impact Framework resulted from identifying the points of alignment between PIs’ perspectives on impact and existing literature. This conceptual lens describing impact in this context is useful for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers around the world interested in the scientific, contextual, and societal dimensions of engineering education R&D.
KW - Engineering education research
KW - Impact
KW - National Science Foundation
KW - STEM education
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047550755
SN - 0949-149X
VL - 34
SP - 1120
EP - 1137
JO - International Journal of Engineering Education
JF - International Journal of Engineering Education
IS - 3
ER -