TY - JOUR
T1 - Federally sponsored multidisciplinary research centers
T2 - Learning, evaluation, and vicious circles
AU - Youtie, Jan
AU - Corley, Elizabeth
N1 - Funding Information:
The evaluation work on which this research is based was undertaken at as part of the evaluation of the NSF sponsored Learning in Informal and Formal Environments center (NSF award 0835854). We gratefully recognize the assistance we received from Qian Hu, graduate research associate at Arizona State University. We also thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. The findings contained in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the center or the funding agency.
PY - 2011/2
Y1 - 2011/2
N2 - Despite the increasing investment in multi-year federally funded science and technology centers in universities, there are few studies of how these centers engage in learning and change based on information submitted from various agents in the oversight and evaluation process. One challenge is how to manage and respond to this evaluative information, especially when it is conflicting. Although the center can learn and adapt in response to this information, it can also become subject to a vicious circle of continuous restructuring and production of documentation to address various and potentially inconsistent recommendations. In this paper we illustrate the effects of such a dynamic based on our experiences as external evaluators of the $25 million NSF-funded Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center. The case study presents an analysis of annual reports and strategic planning documents along with other sources of evidence to illustrate the evolution of center organizational approaches in response to evaluations by external review panels, center evaluators, program managers, and other external stakeholders. We conclude with suggestions for how evaluators may help centers ease the cost of learning and reduce the likelihood of a vicious circle.
AB - Despite the increasing investment in multi-year federally funded science and technology centers in universities, there are few studies of how these centers engage in learning and change based on information submitted from various agents in the oversight and evaluation process. One challenge is how to manage and respond to this evaluative information, especially when it is conflicting. Although the center can learn and adapt in response to this information, it can also become subject to a vicious circle of continuous restructuring and production of documentation to address various and potentially inconsistent recommendations. In this paper we illustrate the effects of such a dynamic based on our experiences as external evaluators of the $25 million NSF-funded Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center. The case study presents an analysis of annual reports and strategic planning documents along with other sources of evidence to illustrate the evolution of center organizational approaches in response to evaluations by external review panels, center evaluators, program managers, and other external stakeholders. We conclude with suggestions for how evaluators may help centers ease the cost of learning and reduce the likelihood of a vicious circle.
KW - Management
KW - Research center
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U2 - 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2010.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2010.05.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 20580089
AN - SCOPUS:77956485147
SN - 0149-7189
VL - 34
SP - 13
EP - 20
JO - Evaluation and Program Planning
JF - Evaluation and Program Planning
IS - 1
ER -