IST Impact Study

empirica is responsible for the eHealth area. Output is to be used for improving programme performance and suggesting recommendations for future strategies. The study’s methodological framework builds on the basic model of causality which considers that RTD projects have downstream consequences that can be described in terms of a range of project outputs (publications, new tools and techniques etc.) and a range of resultant outcomes affecting different sets of actors. The study will assess the performance of projects and programmes focusing on the following evaluation criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, impacts, additionality, relevance, progress factors. A key feature of the methodology is the analysis of results by type of stakeholders.
Quantitative project and programme data are collected by e-mail questionnaires. Data analysis techniques include multivariate techniques capable of identifying groups of results and type of stakeholders/projects (cluster analysis) and searching for correlations between them.
In addition, qualitative stakeholder interviews will provide information to allow for a well-grounded interpretation of the statistical data, setting these into the “societal’ context. Further-more, they will provide a qualitative view on those impacts downstream the impact chain which are difficult to assess using quantitative tools.