How do researchers approach societal impact?

Based on a communication-centered approach, this article examines how researchers approach societal impact, that is, what they think about societal impact in research governance, what their societal goals are, and how they use communication formats. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence on a g...

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Autores principales: Benedikt Fecher, Marcel Hebing
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/52b232ebe8384db7a3bde3eade54eb7b
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:52b232ebe8384db7a3bde3eade54eb7b2021-12-02T20:09:25ZHow do researchers approach societal impact?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0254006https://doaj.org/article/52b232ebe8384db7a3bde3eade54eb7b2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254006https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Based on a communication-centered approach, this article examines how researchers approach societal impact, that is, what they think about societal impact in research governance, what their societal goals are, and how they use communication formats. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence on a group that has received remarkably little attention in the scholarly discourse on the societal impact of research-academic researchers. Our analysis is based on an empirical survey among 499 researchers in Germany conducted from April to June 2020. We show that most researchers regard societal engagement as part of their job and are generally in favor of impact evaluation. However, few think that societal impact is a priority at their institution, and even fewer think that institutional communication departments reach relevant stakeholders in society. Moreover, we show that researchers' societal goals and use of communication formats differ greatly between their disciplines and the types of organization that they work at. Our results add to the ongoing metascientific discourse on the relationship between science and society and offer empirical support for the hypothesis that assessment needs to be sensitive to disciplinary and organizational context factors.Benedikt FecherMarcel HebingPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0254006 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Benedikt Fecher
Marcel Hebing
How do researchers approach societal impact?
description Based on a communication-centered approach, this article examines how researchers approach societal impact, that is, what they think about societal impact in research governance, what their societal goals are, and how they use communication formats. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence on a group that has received remarkably little attention in the scholarly discourse on the societal impact of research-academic researchers. Our analysis is based on an empirical survey among 499 researchers in Germany conducted from April to June 2020. We show that most researchers regard societal engagement as part of their job and are generally in favor of impact evaluation. However, few think that societal impact is a priority at their institution, and even fewer think that institutional communication departments reach relevant stakeholders in society. Moreover, we show that researchers' societal goals and use of communication formats differ greatly between their disciplines and the types of organization that they work at. Our results add to the ongoing metascientific discourse on the relationship between science and society and offer empirical support for the hypothesis that assessment needs to be sensitive to disciplinary and organizational context factors.
format article
author Benedikt Fecher
Marcel Hebing
author_facet Benedikt Fecher
Marcel Hebing
author_sort Benedikt Fecher
title How do researchers approach societal impact?
title_short How do researchers approach societal impact?
title_full How do researchers approach societal impact?
title_fullStr How do researchers approach societal impact?
title_full_unstemmed How do researchers approach societal impact?
title_sort how do researchers approach societal impact?
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/52b232ebe8384db7a3bde3eade54eb7b
work_keys_str_mv AT benediktfecher howdoresearchersapproachsocietalimpact
AT marcelhebing howdoresearchersapproachsocietalimpact
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