Jenny Povey

Perspectives of academic social scientists on knowledge transfer and research collaborations: a cross-sectional survey of Australian academics

This paper reports results from a survey of academic social scientists in Australian universities on their research engagement experience with industry and government partners and end-users of research. The results highlight that while academics report a range of benefits arising from research collaborations,there are also significant impediments to research translation and uptake, including organisational processes within universities. Using the scale of research utilisation, we examine research transfer and uptake and explore a range of variables to understand factors influencing the use of academic social science research by policy makers and practitioners.

Research Utilization in the Social Sciences: A Comparison of Five Academic Disciplines in Australia

Social science disciplines generate diverse forms of research utilization, given the various contexts in which disciplinary knowledge is produced and translated for the fields of policy and practice. We examine this issue from the perspective of academic researchers in the social sciences across education, economics, sociology, political science, and psychology. We use survey data from a study of university-based social science researchers in Australia to examine factors that influence perceptions of the policy uptake of social research. Our results show that disciplinary and methodological context matters when it comes to understanding the translation, dissemination, and utilization of academic social research.

Use of academic social research by public officials: exploring preferences and constraints that impact on research use

While academics can do more to communicate the key messages of their research, the organisational cultures and information infrastructure of policy-related work units also play a large part in influencing the extent of research uptake in government agencies. Data from a large Australian survey (N 2084) of policy-related officials in government agencies is examined to provide insights into how certain preferences, constraints and organisational factors influence the ways in which policy personnel seek out and use academic social research.

Work and social well-being: the impact of employment conditions on quality of life

This paper aims to extend our understanding of the impact of management practises and employment conditions in the contemporary workplace on the broader social realm. The study provides an analytic account of how these employment conditions impact on the social well-being of a representative sample of individuals and households. We assess the propensity of working arrangements that are manifested in various high performance work systems either to enhance or to diminish quality of life. The paper indicates that certain management practises and employment conditions have impacts that extend beyond the workplace and influence the broader well-being of individuals and families.

The utilisation of social science research – the perspectives of academic researchers in Australia

This article reports results from a survey of academic social scientists in Australian universities on reported levels of research utilisation by non-academic users. Using the scale of research utilisation we examine levels of research impact and explore a range of variables to understand factors influencing the use of academic social science research by policy-makers and practitioners. The results indicate that research uptake is enhanced through mechanisms that improve research transfer and the intensity of interactions between academic researchers and users. Our findings provide insights into how the impact of social science research can be improved and draws attention to factors that need to be considered in efforts to evaluate and enhance the impact of academic social research.

The development of a new multi-faceted model of social wellbeing: Does income level make a difference?

Recent research has suggested that income, while playing a part in quality of life, may have only a limited impact on a multi-faceted concept such as social wellbeing. Using data from an Australian household survey (Living in Queensland Survey), a composite Wellbeing Index was created that covered objective circumstances, with known associations to wellbeing, evaluated from the individual’s subjective viewpoint. The importance attributed to each dimension added to the robustness of the measure. The measure was then used to explore the impact of income on wellbeing using various specifications of income. The results indicate that while income is a statistically significant predictor, its effect on wellbeing is small compared with other socio-demographic variables such as health, marital status, employment status and age. The study contributes to the contemporary debate on social wellbeing and adds new evidence to a body of research that has been mainly based on European and American data.