IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i21p14026-d955751.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Do Climate Services Achieve Societal Impact? Evaluations of Actionable Climate Adaptation Science

Author

Listed:
  • Aparna Bamzai-Dodson

    (U.S. Geological Survey North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
    Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73071, USA)

  • Renee A. McPherson

    (Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73071, USA
    U.S. Geological Survey South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Norman, OK 73071, USA)

Abstract

To cope with complex environmental impacts in a changing climate, researchers are increasingly being asked to produce science that can directly support policy and decision making. To achieve such societal impact, scientists are using climate services to engage directly with stakeholders to better understand their needs and inform knowledge production. However, the wide variety of climate-services outcomes—ranging from establishing collegial relationships with stakeholders to obtaining specific information for inclusion into a pre-existing decision process—do not directly connect to traditional methods of measuring scientific impact (e.g., publication citations, journal impact factor). In this paper, we describe how concepts from the discipline of evaluation can be used to examine the societal impacts of climate services. We also present a case study from climate impacts and adaptation research to test a scalable evaluation approach. Those who conduct research for the purposes of climate services and those who fund applied climate research would benefit from evaluation from the beginning of project development. Doing so will help ensure that the approach, data collection, and data analysis are appropriately conceived and executed.

Suggested Citation

  • Aparna Bamzai-Dodson & Renee A. McPherson, 2022. "When Do Climate Services Achieve Societal Impact? Evaluations of Actionable Climate Adaptation Science," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:21:p:14026-:d:955751
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14026/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14026/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cozzens, Susan E., 1997. "The knowledge pool: Measurement challenges in evaluating fundamental research programs," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 77-89, February.
    2. Gigi Owen & Daniel B. Ferguson & Ben McMahan, 2019. "Contextualizing climate science: applying social learning systems theory to knowledge production, climate services, and use-inspired research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 151-170, November.
    3. Charles Herrick & Jason Vogel, 2022. "Climate Adaptation at the Local Scale: Using Federal Climate Adaptation Policy Regimes to Enhance Climate Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Arnott, James C., 2021. "Pens and purse strings: Exploring the opportunities and limits to funding actionable sustainability science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(10).
    5. Doemeland, Doerte & Trevino, James, 2014. "Which World Bank reports are widely read ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6851, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hung, Chia-Liang & Chou, Jerome Chih-Lung & Roan, Hung-Wei, 2010. "Evaluating a national science and technology program using the human capital and relational asset perspectives," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 487-497, November.
    2. Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2024. "Social Identity and Depression Among the Elderly: Evidence from India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1466, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Yawen Zou & Manfred D Laubichler, 2018. "From systems to biology: A computational analysis of the research articles on systems biology from 1992 to 2013," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Julia Melkers, 2004. "Assessing the Outcomes of State Science and Technology Organizations," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 18(2), pages 186-201, May.
    5. Morgan Gray & Elisabeth Micheli & Tosha Comendant & Adina Merenlender, 2020. "Climate-Wise Habitat Connectivity Takes Sustained Stakeholder Engagement," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-21, October.
    6. Walter, Alexander I. & Helgenberger, Sebastian & Wiek, Arnim & Scholz, Roland W., 2007. "Measuring societal effects of transdisciplinary research projects: Design and application of an evaluation method," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 325-338, November.
    7. Eric Libby & Leon Glass, 2010. "The Calculus of Committee Composition," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(9), pages 1-8, September.
    8. Sohn, S.Y. & Gyu Joo, Yong & Kyu Han, Hong, 2007. "Structural equation model for the evaluation of national funding on R&D project of SMEs in consideration with MBNQA criteria," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 10-20, February.
    9. Määttä, Päivi, 2017. "Meeting the challenges of impact measurement," BOFIT Policy Briefs 7/2017, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    10. Marschall, Paul, 2018. "Evidence-oriented approaches in development cooperation: experiences, potential and key issues," IDOS Discussion Papers 8/2018, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    11. William Easterly, 2015. "Response to reviewers on “The Tyranny of Experts”," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 425-441, December.
    12. Kates, Jennifer & Marconi, Katherine & Mannle, Thomas E., 2001. "Developing a performance management system for a Federal public health program: the Ryan White CARE ACT Titles I and II," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 145-155, May.
    13. Estevão, João & Lopes, José Dias & Penela, Daniela, 2023. "SDG9 and the competitiveness: Employing mixed methods to understand how countries can use science to compete," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Anders Brostrom & Cornelia Lawson & Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo, 2024. "Are Scientists Perceived as Credible Experts?," MIOIR Working Paper Series 2024-06, The Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), The University of Manchester.
    15. Vivian Tseng & Angela Bednarek & Kristy Faccer, 2022. "How can funders promote the use of research? Three converging views on relational research," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Jiancheng Guan & Nan Ma, 2009. "Structural equation model with PLS path modeling for an integrated system of publicly funded basic research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(3), pages 683-698, December.
    17. Gugiu, P. Cristian & Rodriguez-Campos, Liliana, 2007. "Semi-structured interview protocol for constructing logic models," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 339-350, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:21:p:14026-:d:955751. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.