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Scientific research evaluation: a review of methods and various contexts of their application
Author(s) -
LuukkonenGronow T.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9310.1987.tb00055.x
Subject(s) - strengths and weaknesses , management science , qualitative research , computer science , psychology , evaluation methods , empirical research , research methodology , engineering ethics , applied psychology , sociology , epistemology , social psychology , social science , engineering , philosophy , reliability engineering , population , demography
The author has conducted a critical review of methods for evaluating R and D, focussing on levels above the individual project or researcher. Methods are classified as peer review, interview and questionnaire, qualitative methods, and case studies. The author reviews their methodological strengths and weaknesses, the types of criteria applied (eg internal or external) in judging their values, and the uses to which the results of the evaluations are put, especially in policy‐making. She concludes that at the level considered evaluations have come to stay, but she can find no accepted rationale guiding the choice of method for a particular purpose or circumstance. Caution is therefore needed in selecting methods. She points out the need for empirical study of the effects of such evaluations.