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eValuaTing QualiTY in

aRTisTiC ReseaRCh

Michael Biggs and Henrik Karlsson

Position statement

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the issues arising from the context of
evaluation that is current in academic research. most countries either have introduced,
or are introducing, national- level performance evaluations of research in response to
pressures for transparency and accountability in the use of public funds, and also in
response to the drive to reduce unnecessary expense. We do not see these evaluations
as being primarily driven by an interest in quality, although one outcome is increased
conformity by the researchers to the norms and criteria used in the assessment, thereby
increasing performance scores. of course, such norm creation also occurs with respect
to research council criteria, which become standards rather than targets owing to their
instrumental role in determining assessment practices through the act of establishing
criteria. The creative arts are potentially at a disadvantage in this context since their
main modes of communication are non- traditional, leading to difficulties in the effective
communication of their value and outcomes using traditional means. Therefore their
value may not be recognized outside subject- specific funding agencies for the arts.
Furthermore, the arts may be seen as essentially transgressive, and therefore their
potential contribution risks being overlooked or marginalized in a normatized pan-
disciplinary culture.
Rather than advocating that the arts cannot be accommodated in such an evaluative
regime, we take the view that the arts need to better understand what its value and
its potential contribution to the academy is, in order that the evaluative framework
can be adapted to suit it. This does not imply that special evaluative methods need to
be designed. instead it implies that clarity about the benefits of any research activity,
expressed through whatever medium, will ensure that the criteria for assessment are
appropriately attached to the values and aims of research in the field, rather than
being ossified in obsolete forms of presentation or preconceptions about where value
and significant contributions can be found. such changes have occurred in the past,
as shown by shifting conceptions of the nature and purpose of doctoral study, the