Qualitative network analysis tools for the configurative articulation of cultural value and impact from research

This article introduces a methodological approach for articulating and communicating the impact and value of research: qualitative network analysis using collaborative configuration tracing and visualization. The approach was proposed initially in Oancea (Interpretations and Practices of Research Impact across the Range of Disciplines Report, Oxford, Oxford University, 2011) and was refined and tested in a 2013–14 study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It uses co-constructed qualitative network diagrams to enable the systematic elicitation and visualization of information from participants (such as researchers, administrators, facilitators, partners, users, and beneficiaries of research) about the different flows and relationships that they see as relevant to creating, articulating, and demonstrating impact and value from research. Unlike quantitative network studies, the emphasis here is on the process of construction and interpretation of qualitative network maps by the participants. Subject to further testing and refinement and to critical understanding of the conceptual, technical, practical, and political limitations of measurement in this area, the approach that we have developed can be adapted for use in research, evaluation, communication, engagement, knowledge exchange, and developmental work in higher education institutions and funding organizations.