Using Multivariate Techniques to Measure the Performance of R&D Programs: A Case Example

Abstract

Performance management systems implemented in science-based government organizations have traditionally focused on research inputs and activities, rather than outputs or outcomes. However, recent legislative changes in several countries now require individual programs to report on their progress towards the achievement of organizational and governmental strategic objectives. In a substantive field where peer review remains the standard evaluation method against which scientific success is judged, performance measurement activities have often been articulated around complex techniques taken from the sciences and economics that yield little useful information to key decision makers (Geisler, 2002; McDonald & Teather, 2000; Roessner, 2002).