Due to its very nature, the evaluation of research permeates nearly
every aspect of the work of researchers. They evaluate the work of
others or have their own work evaluated. They evaluate hypotheses that
come to mind, the previous literature, the quality of data, the
explanatory power of theories, or the design of experiments or
instru-ments. However, deciding when someone is or has become a
first-rate or world-class researcher is an evaluation at a somewhat
different level. It is a complex synthesis of judgments about how well
the researcher does each of the constitutive types of evaluation,
usually as evidenced in the work they are producing. In the last few
decades the evaluation of research has become a high-stakes enterprise.
With increasing political governance and federal budgets often in the
billions, the livelihood of individual researchers, research groups,
departments, programs, and entire institutions often swing in the
balance. In this book, the author systematically analyzes and compares
the quality of the models used to fund and evaluate scientific research
in sixteen countries.