Failures in impact evaluation

Abstract While many definitions of research impact exist, what most share is a belief in the responsibility of research, and researchers, to support positive change in wider society. But this article outlines the growing body of literature on both evaluation and impact that raises concerns with this approach. On the one hand an assumption of positive change may not only ignore the potential for negative impacts but also discourage research which is critical, exploratory or risky. The authors of this article further argue it may encourage narratives of success that mask stories of failure. This article discusses The FailSpace project, research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which examined how evaluation might better identify, acknowledge, and learn from failures This article embodies the principles of FailSpace by reflecting on the failures, rather than successes, of this research project, regarding its intended impact based on findings of an autoethnographic evaluation of FailSpace’s impact. In so doing the authors consider what might be gained from the inclusion of failure metrics in impact evaluations.