Is Impact a Measure of Quality? Some Reflections on the Research Quality and Impact Assessment Agendas

Abstract

This article uses the development of a ‘Research Quality Framework’ in Australia as a focus for reflection on the way in which quality is assessed in relation to education research, and a consideration of the role and situation of a national association of education research in relation to that. The study examines ways in which ‘quality’ and ‘impact’ are being defined in particular practices, and how the broader context of the status of education research impacts on debates and strategies with regard to quality. It is argued that the current focus on measures of quality assessment need to be re-coupled with more attention to contexts of production of education research and the issue of how quality research can be developed. It is argued too that education research associations do need to engage with the quality assessment exercises, but that doing this will pose some real tensions for them.