Contribution Mapping

Contribution Mapping

In Contribution Mapping, research projects can be monitored and evaluated through interactions of the actors involved in the research. It is an alternative approach to existing methods aimed at determining impact. Contribution Mapping focuses on the research process and the actors involved in it by systematically mapping the efforts made to enhance contributions from research to a specific societal or social issue.

We distinguish four types of actors in Contribution Mapping:

1. Researchers directly involved in the research.
2. Linked actors with whom interactions take place during the research, for example because they provide feedback on the research plans and participate in the implementation – or contribute to the interpretation – of the results.
3. Potential key users are linked actors who play a pivotal role in relevant networks and seem most capable to create novel and influential scenarios based on the research. Consider, for instance, policymakers, representatives of patient associations, and so on.
4. Unlinked actors are actors who are not connected to the research process but acquire knowledge of it and use this to create new action perspectives themselves, such as practitioners.

Concerted efforts to achieve a greater contribution from research are called alignment efforts.

Examples of alignment efforts include:

1. Aligning research with established research agendas.
2. Engaging actors with dual roles (in research and practice) in research.
3. Involving potential key users in formulating the research.
4. Involving potential key users in implementing the research.
5. Involving potential key users in interpreting the knowledge developed.
6. Disseminating knowledge products to potential key users.
7. Having a researcher assume the role of a key user (e.g. in advisory boards).
8. Having a linked user assume the role of a key user.
9. Having a non-linked user (someone who has not been involved in the research project) carry out activities based on the knowledge developed, for example in a publication.

Identifying and reflecting on these alignment efforts also enhances the actors’ learning capacity as they begin to anticipate – and make changes in – their own actions to achieve better alignment with implementation of the research and utilisation of the research results in practice.

Four types of contribution are distinguished in Contribution Mapping. These are:

1. Changes in abilities, actions and relationships of researchers and linked actors as a result of research activities.
2. Knowledge products that are added to codified knowledge reservoirs such as publications, protocols, or methods.
3. Contributions to new actor scenarios by the researchers and linked actors.
4. Utilisation of knowledge by actors who were not involved in the research.

How do you use Contribution Mapping?
In Contribution Mapping, the research process is divided into three phases. The first phase involves research formulation. In this phase, potential research questions are explored, funding is sought, discussions are held with potential actors and priorities are established. This phase is completed when funding is awarded for a specific research plan. In the second phase – the production phase – knowledge products are produced. This can include various activities such as recruitment, equipment procurement, theory building, experiments, statistical analyses, and so on. Knowledge can already be shared during this process. This phase is completed when the researchers determine the final results of the study. Knowledge extension, the third phase, focuses on making the knowledge gained available to potential users and on promoting application of the knowledge. This can be done by way of publications and presentations. Linked actors can also play a role in this by applying the knowledge in their own practice.

Using a roadmap, the characteristics of the research process can be identified as well as who contributes (or can contribute) what. This roadmap breaks down into four phases:

1. In the baseline phase, the research team agrees on what Contribution Mapping entails, its purpose, the associated roles, expectations, beneficiaries, and so on.
2. In the first phase, the researchers are interviewed to get an initial impression of the research process and what contributions are possible.
3. In the second phase, potential key users and other relevant actors are interviewed to track, explore and align possible contributions.
4. In the third phase, potential alignment efforts are identified and analysed. Preliminary results are also shared with relevant stakeholders in the research for feedback and validation. The final mapping is shared with stakeholders in the research to learn from, improve and account for the research.

This roadmap is described in more detail in the ‘Contribution Mapping Roadmap’ download.

So far, Contribution Mapping has been used as a method to be applied shortly after project completion. However, it can also be used during implementation to actively manage alignment efforts, for example.

What is the origin of Contribution Mapping?
Contribution Mapping stems from social studies on the evolution of research and knowledge utilisation, in conjunction with the actor-network theory. What characterises this tradition, among other things, is the view that knowledge utilisation takes place in an ever-evolving complex and open system subject to continuous change that is non-linear, multi-directional and difficult to control. This makes it hard to attribute a specific change directly to a specific project result as the ‘source’ (also known to as the attribution problem). Actors in this system combine different sources of knowledge to apply in their own context – often without knowing the source of that knowledge – to give substance and direction to a particular scenario that is being pursued, such as generating business or bringing about an innovation. An adapted action scenario is established through action and reaction in a complex and dynamic environment.

One thing that can be made transparent in this process is which actors contributed what to a specific scenario and how knowledge was utilised in that process. It is that dynamic practice that informs Contribution Mapping: mapping who contributes what to the research, on the supposition that the contribution says something about the relevance, utilisation and dissemination of the accumulated knowledge in the research process.