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Multiple times a year I provide impact statement workshops. Not everyone can make those, so rather than having that knowledge only live in the workshop space, I thought I\u2019d highlight some of the main take-aways shared during that workshop here.<\/p>\n
While I\u2019m based in Australia and tailor a lot of my advice to Australian frameworks, this post has relevance for any researcher who is trying to write a research impact statement. If you\u2019re not sure what is meant by research impact,\u00a0my earlier post about the emerging impact landscape<\/a>\u00a0may be helpful.<\/p>\n Increasingly, impact statements are integrated into funding applications. The impact statement should be a standalone snapshot of your project. Impact statements may go by other names \u2014 for example, the Australian Research Council\u2019s National Interest Test could be considered an impact statement \u2014 but they are essentially asking researchers to provide the same components.<\/p>\n Impact statements are a genre of writing and, once you have a handle on the components that make up a persuasive impact statement, they\u2019re much less daunting to generate.<\/span><\/p>\n Retrospective<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the impact, and how it was generated, from a previous project<\/p>\n Prospective<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 what you\u2019re planning to do to generate impact for a proposed project<\/p>\n It\u2019s important that you know what your funder is asking for. Some funders want to ensure that you have a firm plan in place to generate impact for a proposed project. Others want proof that you know how to generate impact because you have in the past.<\/p>\n Both retrospective and prospective impact statements have the same components; the tense is just different (e.g., \u201cwe did\u201d vs. \u201cwe will\u201d). To simplify things a little, we\u2019ll stick with prospective impact for statements for the rest of the post.<\/p>\n At the simplest level, there are five components that make a strong impact statement:\u00a0problem, solution, beneficiaries, outputs, and impact<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n The problem statement needs to be\u00a0high-level, clear, and simply stated.<\/strong>\u00a0This is the \u2018why\u2019 of the research, not just the \u2018what\u2019. Problem statements can be stated in the negative (e.g. \u201cchildhood obesity is an epidemic\u201d) or as a positive (e.g. \u201cour project will reduce childhood obesity\u201d). In the latter, the reviewer fills in the gap and goes, \u201cAh yeah, this is a project about childhood obesity.\u201d If you\u2019re having difficulties getting started, ask yourself, \u201cWhy is my research needed?\u201d. Pretend you\u2019re explaining it to someone you meet around a campfire or at a barbeque.<\/p>\n This section tends to pose the greatest challenge to researchers when crafting a persuasive impact statement. My suspicion is that researchers know too much about their topic and have difficulty articulating succinctly what the problem is for a generalist audience. Remember, expert reviewers are experts in their subject, not always yours.<\/p>\n In this section, you talk about your proposed solution to the problem. This is where you discuss the research you want to do. Remember to align your proposed solution to the problem statement. There should be a cause and effect relationship here \u2014 because this\u00a0thing\u00a0<\/em>is an issue, we\u2019re going to do\u00a0this<\/em>. Some grants have multipage impact statements but usually it\u2019s a fairly small space so keep it short, succinct, and high-level.<\/p>\n An issue I often see with this section is that researchers rehash what they have written in other sections of the application. Don\u2019t copy and paste. Start fresh and try not to get too bogged down in the details. You might mention that you will use interviews, but you don\u2019t need to delve into sampling criteria, which generally belongs elsewhere.<\/p>\n Reviewers want to know that you have a clear sense of who is going to be interested in using your research findings. The more concrete your beneficiaries can be, the better. If you can name project partners, name them. If you can say how they will be involved in the project, do.<\/p>\n Saying that your research will benefit the public won\u2019t cut it. It\u2019s just too vague. Indicating that your work, for example, \u201cwill benefit young males between the ages of 18-25 by working with x, y, and z organisations,\u201d is much more persuasive.<\/p>\n Outputs could be anything; a website, educational resource, videos, pamphlets, workshops, etc. The outputs are how you will get from research results to impact. Impact doesn\u2019t just magically happen so lead the reader on a journey of how you\u2019ll work with beneficiaries and stakeholders to make it happen.<\/p>\n This is another area that researchers seem to struggle with or haven\u2019t though through fully. I suspect it\u2019s because outputs happen after research results so it\u2019s sometimes difficult to conceptualise what forms the outputs may take. Be that as it may, reviewers want to know that you\u2019ve thought through how you will mobilise results into practice.<\/p>\n Often, the stated impact is only a sentence or two. It\u2019s what all your activities will ideally culminate in. It could be an impact on policy, culture, health\/wellness, the environment, and\/or the economy. If your research is adopted into practice, what will that look like? What will the impact be?<\/p>\n Again, compelling specificity is the key. Lines like, \u201cthe impact will be on policy by working with policymakers\u201d are anaemic and won\u2019t convince reviewers that you have a clear sense of how to generate impact. What policymakers are you going to work with? What policy are you looking to impact? There are many posts about impact and policy, including\u00a0Analysts, advocates and applicators<\/a>,\u00a0From science to action<\/a>, and\u00a0The hard labour of connecting research to policy during COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n In my workshops, I ask people to explain the elements of their impact statements and have others paraphrase it back. Often, when people hear the ways people interpret what they said, they find gaps in logic and issues with clarity.<\/p>\n You can do this exercise yourself as well. Pick up your phone, go to the memo app, and press record. Talk through, to yourself, each of the above impact statement components. Then go for a walk and listen to yourself. Listen a few times and you\u2019ll start to hear where there are jumps in logic, where you have used jargon, where a reviewer might raise their eyebrows.<\/p>\n Write each of the sections above separately \u2014 one paragraph each \u2014 then stitch it together.<\/p>\n For my workshop, I invite participants to colour-code the impact statement components for their research.<\/p>\nTypes of impact statements<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Impact Statement Components<\/strong><\/h3>\n
PROBLEM<\/h4>\n
SOLUTION<\/h4>\n
BENEFICIARIES<\/h4>\n
OUTPUTS<\/h4>\n
IMPACT<\/h4>\n
Putting it Together<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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