Focus and approach for follow-up

Research agenda for the Swedish national research programme within

migration and integration 58

Research agenda for the Swedish national research programme within

migration and integration 59

As reported in Chapter 2, the different parts of the programme theory need not necessarily be considered in chronological order or be viewed as a linear process.

Rather, this grouping is just a way to divide up the different elements of the process.

The follow-up of the programme should be designed to follow up all elements, however.

The second column in Table 8 shows the relevant programme goals. (Numbers in brackets indicate the number of the goal, as listed in Section 2.5.) The third column in the table describes how the reporting and follow-up of the programme will be carried out. The report consists of a description of the programme’s implementation and a follow-up using indicators. The indicators measure either that an activity has been performed or that a result has been achieved. The indicators are primarily intended to be followed up by reports of recipients of programme funding.

The first row in Table 8 refers to goals 6-8. These goals largely relate to how the programme is designed and implemented. These goals have therefore been classified under (i) and (ii) of the programme theory and the follow-up consists of describing how the programme was designed and implemented.

Goal 5, to contribute to gender equality, relates both to ensuring that men and women have equal rights and opportunities to take part in the research programme’s initiatives, and to ensuring that the research, where warranted, relates to issues of gender and gender equality. The goal is followed up by describing the programme’s implementation and through an indicator showing how the gender distribution of awarded grants matches the gender distribution of applicants.

Table 8: Report and follow-up of the national programme within migration and integration

Part of programme

theory Goal Reporting and follow-up

(description/indicator) (i) and (iii) Programme

design, with particular focus on initiating research and on promoting the accessibility and dissemination of research findings

 To ensure the programme is well coordinated with other national and international initiatives and that it creates synergies (6)

 To ensure that the programme is adapted and designed to meet the conditions and requirements of the research domains and that it is conducted in flexible forms (7)

 To ensure that that the research programme creates conditions for interdisciplinary and cross-sectional cooperation (8)

Description of the programme’s design and implementation, e.g. possible joint initiatives with other research funding bodies

Research agenda for the Swedish national research programme within

migration and integration 60

Part of programme

theory Goal Reporting and follow-up

(description/indicator) (i) Initiating new

research  To contribute to gender equality

(5)  Description: Report of the programme’s

design and of the selection process for funded projects

 Indicator: Gender distribution grant rate (proportion of granted applications in relation to number of applications, and proportion of granted funding for men and women).

(i) Initiating new

research  To contribute to high-quality research and knowledge-building (1)

 Description: Report of selection process

 Indicators: Number of funded projects and success rate

(ii) Ensuring that new research is added to existing research

 To contribute to high-quality research and knowledge-building (1)

 Indicators: (a) Publication in working paper series or similar, (b) Scholarly publication in journal or similar (peer reviewed), (c) Education and

outreach/popular science publication or similar

(i) Initiating new research, and (iii) Ensuring that research is accessible and

disseminated

 To contribute to improved dialogue between researchers, practitioners and decision-makers (4)

 Description: Activity aimed at promoting dialogue between researchers,

practitioners and decision-makers.

(iii) Ensuring that research is accessible and disseminated

 To help strengthen the link between research and higher education (3)

 Description: Activity aimed at strengthening the link between research and higher education

 Indicators: number of activities (e.g.

workshop), outcome of activities (e.g.

number of participants)

(iii) Ensuring that research is accessible and disseminated

 To contribute to evidence-based

policies and administration (2)  Description: Activity aimed at contributing to evidence-based policies and administration

 Indicators: number of activities (e.g.

workshop), outcome of activities (e.g.

number of participants)

Research agenda for the Swedish national research programme within

migration and integration 61

Part of programme

theory Goal Reporting and follow-up

(description/indicator) (iv) Ensuring that

research is used  To contribute to evidence-based

policies and administration (2)  Indicator: The research is cited in government agency reports, government inquiries, etc.

Source: Own compilation. The goals refer to the goals listed in Section 2.5.

Goal 1, to contribute to high-quality research and knowledge-building, can be followed up with indicators for the activities that have been carried out (e.g. number of funded projects) and what the outcome of the activity was (e.g. number of publications). A publication in a scholarly journal, monograph or similar, is a measure of productivity. A scholarly publication can also mean that the research has undergone a review by other researchers (peer reviewed), which is an indication of quality. Publication also means that the research has gained a broader dissemination.

In addition to these indicators, it is also important to describe and follow up the selection process of which research projects have been awarded funding in order to ensure that the research programme rewards high-quality research.

Goals 2 and 3, to contribute to evidence-based policies and administration, and to contribute to strengthening the link between research and higher education, can be followed up with indicators and/or descriptions of activities carried out to promote research accessibility and dissemination for these groups, e.g. education and outreach/popular science, op-eds, conferences, seminars and courses. The indicator can measure the number of activities carried out or the number of e.g. conference or course attendees, or which organisations participated in the activity.

Goal 2, to contribute to evidence-based policies and administration, could also be followed up by measuring to what extent research on migration and integration is cited in government agency reports, government inquiries, etc. The indicator could thereby measure the number of citations of research that have been generated by the research programme (for examples, see Swedish Research Council 2012). Another alternative is to measure citations of research in government agency reports and similar publications. A weakness of such an indicator, however, is that it is difficult to infer the change in citations as being an effect of the research programme. A strength, on the other hand, is that it provides a picture of whether Swedish migration and integration research is used in government agency reports, government inquiries and similar.