Assessing impact submissions for REF2014: An evaluation

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). For the first time, part of the assessment included the wider impact of research. RAND Europe was commissioned to evaluate the assessment process of the impact element of REF submissions, and to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment process in delivering reliable, robust and fair outcomes, identify any unforeseen issues emerging during the assessment process and outline broad implications for the assessment process of impact in future REF exercises. This report provides a summary of our key findings, complemented by a detailed analysis of the process using the following methodologies: focus groups with panel members, users and impact assessors; interviews with panellists; and a survey of all panellists. This evaluation complements another piece of research that RAND Europe undertook for the UK higher education funding councils to evaluate the submission process HEIs underwent to prepare for the impact element of REF 2014 (Manville et al. 2015a, Manville et al. 2015b).