The research assessment framework is an unstable reality in many countries. While few would disagree that there is a need to measure and reward research excellence, there has been little investigation of how assessment mechanisms relate to knowledge itself. With a focus on the arts and humanities and writing from an Australian perspective, this…

Administrative scientists superimpose analytic frameworks on their observations when trying to make knowledge meaningful. The generation of knowledge should be seen as an essentially interpretive and subjective activity. An awareness of this fact may encourage a view of scientific progress that is reinforced by the social context in which research…