Indicators for monitoring responsible research and innovation in Spain; the case of Science Education

Abstract

This research seeks to contribute to the proposal of a framework for the development of indicators of Science Education through involving in the decision-making processes discussions among the different agents of the scientific and innovation systems in Spain. The research is frame-worked in the current promotion of the term Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Europe and its impact on national scientific and innovation policies. As a result, two European-based sets of indicators for the six areas related with RRI (governance, public engagement, gender equality, science education, open science/access and ethics) have been proposed. To facilitate the monitoring of these areas, the selection of smaller set of indicators adapted to the reality of each R&D context has been suggested (Expert Group on Policy Indicators for Responsible Research and Innovation, 2015). This study aims to propose and test a decision model to weight the most relevant indicators for public engagement to monitor national R&D initiatives using the case of Spain as an example. In the case of Spain, the recent published National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2017-2020) includes in its fifth objective “Promotion of an open and responsible model of R&D+I supported by the participation of the Society” references to open access and open science, ethics, gender and public engagement. Science Education (SE), as one of the key areas proposed by the EC, refers to both: - better equip future researchers and other societal actors with the necessary knowledge and tools to fully participate and take responsibility in the research and innovation process and, - boost the interest of children and youth in maths, science and technology so they can contribute the researchers of tomorrow and contribute to a science-literate society. This work is based on three hypotheses: 1. Indicators to monitor and evaluate SE initiatives and policies might not have the same relevance in different contexts. 2. Indicators to monitor and evaluate SE initiatives and policies can be prioritized. 3. The AHP methodology might be a useful tool to propose a strategy to adapt and select the more relevant context-based sets of indicators to specific contexts that allow stakeholders to propose new indicators. The methodology proposed for our work is based on three steps: 1. Identification of the most relevant actors in SE (Social Network Analysis) 2. Generation of a list of context-based SE indicators (Experts panel) 3. Prioritization of the list of indicators proposed (AHP) We rely on the opinion of experts and stakeholders in the area of Science Education in Spain to provide different weights for the list of agreed indicators. The panel of experts will include representatives with competences in science and innovation policies from the local, regional and national governments, academics with background in research on science education and with practical experience in its implementation (science museums, science centres, schools, academies, science magazines, science blogs and living labs). Once the experts have agreed a set of relevant SE indicators for the Spanish R&D+i systems, AHP questionnaires to pairwise compare the relevance of such indicators will be answered by them. With the information obtained from these questionnaires, the more relevant indicators for this specific group of stakeholders will be identified. The application of such a technique, will allow policy-makers and decision-makers to identify the more relevant indicators for a specific context and select reduced sets of indicators to gather information on Science Education performance.