Introducing “Impact Validity”

Abstract

This article introduces and explores the concept impact validity, which is conceptualized as the extent to which research has the potential to play a role in social and political change or is useful as a tool for advocacy or activism. Including impact validity in the design of a research project means that, in addition to considering traditional criteria for determining the methodological rigor of research, it is also critical to consider the many related decisions that researchers make when working toward social change. In this article, the theory and methodology of impact validity and the assumptions that position impact validity as both a valid scientific approach, and a useful tool for promoting a more engaged social science, are considered. A "how to" guide is also provided that offers three guiding principles for enhancing impact validity: the strategic choice of research question, having explicit and realistic strategies for using research, and the strategic framing, communicating, and disseminating of findings.As many who engage political change through research would agree, the misuse, marginalization, and politicization of research is the norm rather than the exception. For example, numerous public policies in the United States, such as those related to: criminal justice (e.g., zero tolerance policing over treatment and prevention for drug-related crimes); educational reform (with the focus on testing and performance measures); abstinence-only sex education (an education policy which limits discussion of sexual health and birth control in school sex education classes); and welfare reform (a change in U.S. assistance to the economically disadvantaged, enacted in 1996), to name only a few, stand in dramatic contradiction to the bodies of empirical data built over decades of research.

Multiversity of the twenty-first century – examining opportunities for integrating community engagement in planning curricula

“…For example, over the past three decades, research especially in the social sciences, has shifted in focus from a traditional researcher as independent outsider (Siemiatycki, 2012) to researcher as engaged participant (e.g. Massey & Barreras, 2013), and a range of approaches in between (Gold, 1958in Siemiatycki, 2012. In parallel with the crisis in the social sciences (Saxe 1983in Massey & Barreras, 2013, this shift may be seen as challenging of the positivist paradigm for social science research by more interpretivist approaches (Yanow & Schwartz-Shea, 2006;Flyvbjerg, 2002).…”

“…Massey & Barreras, 2013), and a range of approaches in between (Gold, 1958in Siemiatycki, 2012. In parallel with the crisis in the social sciences (Saxe 1983in Massey & Barreras, 2013, this shift may be seen as challenging of the positivist paradigm for social science research by more interpretivist approaches (Yanow & Schwartz-Shea, 2006;Flyvbjerg, 2002). University-community engagement through research has been directly affected by this change as researchers are no longer uninvolved observers, but enter into relationships with their subjects.…”

Application of Empirical Research Findings in Public Health Advocacy: Focus on Maternal, Child, and Reproductive Health

“…Researchers are well aware of the importance of evaluation; most include such activities in grant proposals given the widespread appreciation for its value. That said, funders must be willing to allocate resources specifically for “postadvocacy” (i.e., impact validity, see Massey & Barreras, ) assessments. In this way, the field will begin to learn about the relative success of different advocacy activities and benefit from such knowledge going forward.…”

The Old Questions Are the Best: Striving against Invalidity in Qualitative Research

“…This is about how research adversely affects or benefits the situation of the research, the extent to which research has the potential to play an effective role in some form of educational change (Massey & Barreras, 2013). For example, teachers might have a beneficial "backwash validity" if the students' perceptions of their teaching are clearly pointed out; the teachers would be more successful because they will be focused on what is being demanded.…”