Gemechu Nigussie, Werbick Meghan, Yang Michelle, Hyder Adnan A
Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Center on Commercial Determinants of Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Front Res Metr Anal. 2022 Apr 25;7:817821. doi: 10.3389/frma.2022.817821. eCollection 2022.
Research is a critical component of the public health enterprise, and a key component of universities and schools of public health and medicine. To satisfy varying levels of stakeholders in the field of public health research, accurately measuring the return on investment (ROI) is important; unfortunately, there is no approach or set of defined metrics that are universally accepted for such assessment. We propose a research metrics framework to address this gap in higher education. After a selected review of existing frameworks, we identified seven elements of the generic research lifecycle (five internal to an institution and two external). A systems approach was then used to broadly define four parts of each element: inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes (or impacts). Inputs include variables necessary to execute research activities such as human capital and finances. Processes are the pathways of measurement to track research performance through all phases of a study. Outputs entail immediate products from research; and outcomes/impacts demonstrate the contribution research makes within and beyond an institution. This framework enables the tracking and measurement of research investments to outcomes. We acknowledge some of the challenges in applying this framework including the lack of standardization in research metrics, disagreement on defining impact among stakeholders, and limitations in resources for implementing the framework and collecting relevant data. However, we suggest that this proposed framework is a systematic way to raise awareness about the role of research and standardize the measurement of ROI across health science schools and universities.
研究是公共卫生事业的关键组成部分，也是大学以及公共卫生与医学院校的核心组成部分。为了满足公共卫生研究领域不同层次利益相关者的需求，准确衡量投资回报率（ROI）至关重要；不幸的是，目前尚无一种方法或一套既定指标能被普遍接受用于此类评估。我们提出一个研究指标框架来填补高等教育领域的这一空白。在对现有框架进行选定回顾后，我们确定了一般研究生命周期的七个要素（五个为机构内部要素，两个为外部要素）。然后采用系统方法对每个要素大致定义为四个部分：投入、过程、产出和成果（或影响）。投入包括开展研究活动所需的变量，如人力资本和资金。过程是在研究的各个阶段跟踪研究绩效的衡量途径。产出是研究的直接产物；而成果/影响则表明研究在机构内部及外部所做出的贡献。该框架能够对研究投资到成果的过程进行跟踪和衡量。我们认识到应用此框架存在一些挑战，包括研究指标缺乏标准化、利益相关者在定义影响方面存在分歧，以及实施该框架和收集相关数据的资源有限。然而，我们认为这一拟议框架是一种系统的方式，可提高对研究作用的认识，并使健康科学院校和大学的投资回报率衡量标准化。
