Impact can be conceptualised as the longer term effect of an outcome. For example, to take the examples uses above, the impact of losing a lot of weight or body fat might be an increased sense of happiness and or a decreased sense of insecurity.
The impact of accessing local community support might be an increased feeling of peace of mind and or emotional support. When compared to outcomes that tend to be pre-defined and can be measured objectively, the personal experiences and inherently personal nature of impact is intuitively subjective.
There is evidence to suggest that these distinctions are supported by organisations like the Charities Evaluation Services and the Centre for Nonprofit Management. Although the distinctive nature of each is outlined here, the interlinked and sequential nature the relationship between impact and outcome is also apparent.
This will almost certainly be of interest to those tasked with designing social research. When interested in objective outcomes, it is appropriate and there is an established tendency to use quantitative methods. On the other hand, impact is sufficiently different, complex, non-linear and ultimately subjective to warrant a qualitative approach.
However, it is not as straight forward to only indicate that outcomes support quantitative methods and impact lends itself to the strengths of qualitative methods.
There are other appropriate methodological configurations. If consideration is given to the interlinked and sequential relationship between outcomes and impact and vice versa , a mixed methods approach that focuses on delineating outcomes and exploring impact might be appropriate.
Or, if a detailed exploration of agency — or how individual use of information and or advice shapes the processes around outcomes and impact then an in-depth qualitative case study approach is likely to be appropriate. A critique of existing research on the impact and or outcomes of information and advice on welfare.
With these methodological definitions in mind, how is existing research approached and designed? As part of my doctoral research, I have reviewed studies focusing on instrumentally rational participants — i. There is a dominant preference for the use of quantitative methods when reporting outcomes. As outlined above, on the face of it this is methodologically sound.
However, a closer look at this body of work reveals some significant deficiencies in this area. In particular, two main and broad critiques that focus on research approaches and terminology are evident.
Firstly, a preferential pursuit of quantitative outcome measures does not constitute an expansive and comprehensive research base. There is a relative paucity of studies that focus on impact as a singular focus, or as a complementary element to studies that report outcomes. This severely limits the scope of research findings. A tendency to report outcomes, and not impact in adequate detail, is a common feature of the sub-section of this literature.
In fact, one paper acknowledges this as a weakness of a quantitative research design — calling for the use of qualitative methods to compliment quantitative findings in order to provide detail on impact.
Secondly, there is also a great deal of variation in the use of terminology and the assumptions about the nature of what an impact or outcome refers to. These are assumptions because, despite impact and outcomes being central to these studies, the nature of each is not discussed at all. Rockwell, Kay and Bennett, Claude. Paper Thomson, G. Hoffman Measuring the success of Environmental Education programs.
Declaration of the first intergovernmental conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisi, Skip to main content. Outcomes and Impacts What are outcomes and impacts? Outcome Impact Short and Intermediate Changes Example: During the EE program, participants make a resolution to conduct a neighborhood campaign to clean up their creek intention Longer-term Changes Example: A year after the program ended, less pollutants are entering the creek Effects on participants either at the individual or group level Example: Program participants take part in weekend events to plant native grasses and trees along the creek behavior Effects on the entire school, community, society at large, or in the environment Example: Improved water quality of the creek How are outcomes used in evaluation?
Typical knowledge outcomes of EE programs include knowledge about the environment, the phenomena that shape it, and its associated problems and their potential solutions. Attitudes: Participants develop emotional tendencies and beliefs that are in line with environmental responsibility.
Environmental attitude outcomes may include improved attitudes toward nature, the built environment, or how humans relate to their environment UNESCO, ; Thomson and Hoffman, Intention to act: Participants intend to act in a specific way or accomplish a goal that fosters environmental protection or improvement. An evaluation of impact looks for particular factors that exist beyond the outcome.
The idea of an impact is that long-term, wide changes have occurred as a direct result of the research in question. Because these are specifically long-term changes, it can take years to determine the impact of a scholar on their subject of research. These impacts can include differences in transportation to a more environmentally-friendly form, an adjustment in lifestyle changes to the reader or a community, renewable resources as a form of energy, and many other small or large scale changes that have a positive effect on the environment beyond the immediate or short-term.
With positive health impacts, a community may benefit from better access to medical care or a global impact might be made in which a specific condition is aided through improved knowledge on reducing symptoms or a medication is found that alleviates the problems with a disease. Health impacts can also include increased communication of medical information between the provider and their patient.
Knowing the difference between outcomes and impacts in research findings is crucial to understanding exactly how an article has affected its readership. One way to get started is to ensure your profile is professionally drafted with Impactio. Impactio is an all-in-one platform in which expert scholars like you can turn their academic accomplishments into ready-for-publishing PDF documents and web pages.
With our easy to use the program, you can insert text, create charts, graphs, and tables to display your data, and turn your work into an impressive and professional profile to demonstrate your academic impact. Researchers June 20, How Outcomes and Impacts are Used in Evaluations Outcome evaluations are frequently used to determine how an element can be improved.
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