Between art and research: Evaluation of creative arts in performance-based research funding systems

The aim of this research project was to (1) investigate the effects of the Polish system of research evaluation on the creative arts and (2) identify research criteria in artistic disciplines. Evaluation of the scientific activity of academics has been a focus of many studies but very few of those studies have taken into account artists working at universities. At the same time, art schools, together with other scientific institutions, are subjected to periodic evaluations of research activity, and it is plausible to think that in the field of art, like in other academic disciplines, national systems of research funding have a significant influence on the creative activity of academics.To achieve the first research goal and explore the potential influence of research evaluation on the creative arts, the project analysed achievements submitted for evaluation exercises in 2013 and 2017 by higher art education institutions. Data concerning 93 units located at 18 Polish academies of art and 12 Polish universities (all art units that submitted outputs for the evaluation exercises in 2013 and 2017) were obtained from the SEDN and POLON. After data categorisation and classification, the final dataset (ARTS_OUTPUTS) consists of 17 variables and 94 records (record number 1 is a header with variable names).To achieve the second goal and identify research criteria in artistic disciplines, in-depth interviews (N=60) and questionnaire-based interviews (N=30) were conducted with Polish artists-academics. The dataset (ARTS_CRITERIA) includes quantitative data gathered through questionnaire-based interviews (qualitative data were deposited in Archiwum Danych Jakościowych – AJD) using an online questionnaire. Respondents assessed the relevance of 12 research quality criteria in artistic disciplines on a 5-point Likert-type scale with responses ranging from 1 (irrelevant) to 5 (very relevant).