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Measuring the aggregated impact of research: Establishing criteria for coding Translational Science Benefits Model data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2025

Nicole Miovsky*
Affiliation:
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Amanda Woodworth
Affiliation:
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Stephanie Andersen
Affiliation:
Clark-Fox Policy Institute, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
Rosalina Das
Affiliation:
Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Julie Heidbreder
Affiliation:
Center for Public Health Systems Science, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Rechelle Paranal
Affiliation:
South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Clara M. Pelfrey
Affiliation:
Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Northern Ohio, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Jessica Sperling
Affiliation:
Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA Social Science Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Beth Tigges
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Boris B. Volkov
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Institute for Health Informatics, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Margaret Schneider
Affiliation:
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
*
Corresponding author: N. Miovsky; Email: nyacono@uci.edu
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Abstract

Introduction:

A promising approach to assessing research impact draws on the Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM), an evaluation model that tracks the applied benefits of research in four domains: Clinical and Medical; Community and Public Health; Economic; and Policy and Legislative. However, standardized methods to verify TSBM benefit data, to aid in aggregating impact data within quantitative summaries, do not currently exist.

Methods:

A panel of 11 topic experts participated in a modified Delphi process for establishing content and face validity of a set of criteria for verifying qualitative TSBM data. Two survey rounds were completed by panelists, with a moderated discussion in between rounds to discuss criteria not reaching consensus. Criteria with panel consensus at or above 70% in the survey rounds were confirmed as validated.

Results:

Criteria fell into 9 categories: Content Relevant, Project Related, Who, Reach, What, How, Novel, Documented Evidence, and When. The Delphi process yielded 197 total criteria across the 30 benefits characterized by the TSBM (range = 5–8 criteria per benefit).

Discussion:

The results of this Delphi process lay the foundation for developing a TSBM coding tool for evaluating and quantifying TSBM data. Standardizing this process will enable data aggregation, group analysis, and the comparison of research impact across contexts.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Association for Clinical and Translational Science
Figure 0

Table 1. Explanations of the eight proposed categories

Figure 1

Figure 1. Flowchart of criteria across the Delphi panel rounds.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Validated criteria from the Delphi panel.

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