Examining differentiation in academic responses to research impact policy: Mediating factors in the context of educational research

This article examines responses to a new impact indicator introduced to the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). Whilst analysts have pointed to opportunities in impact policy for educational research as a field, the requirement to demonstrate impact beyond the academy poses challenges for research relating to higher education. The study illustrates forms of research used to demonstrate impact in, and on, HE. Through narratives of respondents engaged in HE-related research, the study indicates ways research practices are influenced by the impact indicator. The analysis demonstrates greater diversity in forms of research used to demonstrate impact than portrayed in earlier studies. Formulaic responses to impact are evident in some institutional contexts, which reify particular forms of research. In other cases, respondents portrayed a re-framing impact in ways that resonate with research orientations within the local context. An argument is made for a relational approach to policy interpretation in local organisational contexts