Kehittävä vaikuttavuusarviointi menetelmänä tutkimus- ja kehitystoiminnan suuntaamisessa ja oppimisessa

Research and development (R&D) work at the Finnish public research organizations is currently facing major challenges. Research projects should increasingly address societal goals and include measurements and targets for these. Applied research should also create simultaneously new knowledge for the research community and useful solutions to the customers. In addition to the organizational and structural changes from above, R&D organisations need new approaches to develop their research groups from below. Evaluations in R&D have traditionally been used to legitimate policy actions and measuring the performance. Impact assessment of public research organizations has consisted of cost-effect analysis by quantitative indicators. The article proposes a new method for R&D evaluation, using project evaluation as a basis for learning and creating new directions for research. The approach is based on the theory of expansive learning and its application: the change laboratory. The main idea is that the researchers themselves assess the impacts of their projects that have ended a few years previously. The impacts of the projects are analyzed from the point of view of the users and the societal stakeholders. Research knowledge is also evaluated by analysing the effects in terms of new methods, findings or theory. The evaluation is then used as a basis for learning. The evaluation process can then be used explicitly as a basis for learning and in constructing new plans for future research.