How are Educational Researchers Interacting with End-users to Increase Impact?

Abstract

There has been increased interest in how researchers might collaborate with end users to increase the impact of their work. In Canada, efforts to extend research impact beyond academia are called knowledge mobilization (KMb). This study surveyed SSHRC- funded educational researchers to assess their KMb efforts in relation to three areas: stakeholder engagement (target audience and frequency of interaction), dissemination mechanisms (intermediaries, networks, media, online tools), and research impact (research-related, service/practice, policy, societal). Findings: 70% of researchers reported regularly interacting with target audiences. Types of interactions included getting to know target audiences (71%), discussing research results (65%), and dedicating resources for capacity building (45%). Researchers reported impacts in relation to research (76%), service/practice (67%), and policy (35%), and societal impacts (35%). Researchers felt very well prepared to create plain language summaries of their work (54%), and collaborate with stakeholders (45%), but much less prepared to deal with media (32%), work with intermediaries (22%), or use technology to disseminate their work (16%). Implications for engaged scholarship are articulated in five areas: prioritization and co-production; packaging and push; facilitating pull; exchange; and improving climate for research use by building demand.