Evaluation of researcher support programmes: assessment within development events, and the attitudes and experiences towards academic careers provision, of early career academics (ECAs)

Purposive evaluation of courses and other learning activities is important for judgements about how useful such provision is, and so this is the case also for provision serving to prepare participants in some way for academic practice, as part of researcher support “training” programmes. The Vitae Rugby Team Impact Framework (2008; after Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick 2006) provides an appropriate reference point for analysis of effectiveness of development events. At the most general level (inspired by Kent & Guzkowska 1998), assessment can gauge attainment of participants (impact levels 2 and 3), constituting a main criterion for evaluation. The project started investigating broadly and, after clarification, to proceed by collapsing research questions (1) and (2) into (3) thus re-focused particularly on to development events with assessment where the programme is not leading to an award and there is no accreditation (c.f. Greenwood & Wilson 2004). Gauging the views of participants was the main focus for investigation, but the project also solicited comment from providers. Overall, people in this domain hold differing views, albeit complicated by diverse contextual factors, with contrasting themes emerging for and against usage of assessment.