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10 Int'l J. Educ. L. & Pol'y 55 (2014)
A Framework to Explore and Develop Criteria for Assessing Research Quality in the Humanities

handle is hein.journals/ijelp10 and id is 55 raw text is: A Framework to Explore and Develop Criteria for Assessing Research Quality in the Humanities Sven E. Hug*,**, Michael Ochsner* and Hans-Dieter Daniel*,** Abstract In the process of developing new tools for measuring and assessing research quality in the humanities, many challenges emerge, such as technical problems (e.g., building publication databases, capturing social impact) and scholars' opposition to measuring research performance. This paper focuses on scholars' opposition and presents the four most crucial objections of humanities scholars regarding the measurement and assessment of research quality (i.e., methods employed in research evaluation originated from the natural sciences, strong reservations against quantification, fear of negative steering effects of indicators, lack of consensus on quality criteria within humanities disciplines). We suggest a framework to explore and develop quality criteria and indicators that considers scholars' objections by adopting an inside-out approach, by relying on a sound measurement approach, by making scholars' notions of quality explicit, and by strivingfor consensus within a discipline/sub-discipline. Finally, we outline an empirical procedure, comprising Repertory Grid interviews and a Delphi survey, to implement the framework. The framework and its empirical implementation contribute to the development of criteria and indicators for assessing research quality in the humanities. Keywords: Research evaluation, arts and humanities, quality, criteria, indicators, Delphi survey, Repertory 55 Grid, criticism. Bibliometric indicators are used to compare and evaluate research performance in the life sciences and natural sciences (e.g. Forsl6w, Rehn, & Wadskog, 2005; Gim6nez-Toledo, Roman-Roman, & Alcain-Partearroyo, 2007; Lane, 2010) and are employed in the performance-based university research funding systems of several countries (Hicks, 2012). However, bibliometric indicators are not well-suited to determine the quantity and quality of humanities' research or to assess it (Archambault, Vignola Gagn6, Cote, Larivi~re, & Gingras, 2006; Bourke & Butler, 1996; Butler & Visser, 2006; Finkenstaedt, 1990; Glinzel & Schoepflin, 1999; Gomez-Caridad, 1999; Guillory, 2005; Hicks, 2004b; Moed, Luwel, & Nederhof, 2002; Nederhof, 2006; Nederhof, Zwaan, De Bruin, & Dekker, 1989). Therefore, different initiatives are currently developing assessment tools for the humanities or striving to make the quantity and quality of humanities' research visible. Examples include the CRISTIN database in Norway (Schneider, 2009; Sivertsen, 2010), the Flemish Academic Bibliographic Database for the Social Sciences and Humanities (Engels, Ossenblok, & Spruyt, 2012), the European Reference Index for the Humanities (European Science Foundation, 2011b), the MESUR project (National Science Foundation, 2009), the Book Citation Index (Thomson Reuters, 2011), Libcitations (White et al., 2009), the assessment of monographs through their publishers (Gim~nez-Toledo & Roman- 1 This paper was supported by the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS) as part of the project Developing and Testing Research Quality Criteria in the Humanities, with an emphasis on Literature Studies and Art History Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Professorship for Social Psychology and Research on Higher Education, Zurich (Switzerland); University of Zurich, Evaluation Office, Zurich (Switzerland). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Sven E. Hug, ETH Zurich, D GESS, Muehlegasse 21, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland, Phone: +41 44 632 46 85, Fax: +41 44 632 12 83, E-mail: sven.hug@gess.ethz.ch IJELP - 2014 - ISSUE 1

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