Evaluating science to action amid changes to research funding and co-production

There is widespread belief that interaction between researchers and end-users can enhance the societal impact of science. Recently, a few science funding programs have encouraged co-production, an approach to research that meaningfully incorporates end-users and their expertise to increase the use and other societal benefits of science. However, empirical studies have not systematically assessed how researchers respond to sponsor encouragement to co-produce knowledge and if and how closer engagement between researchers and end-users actually results in increased impact. We offer a new database of eleven indicators of research practice and use that assess 120 research projects funded by NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) between 1998-2014. Periodic program design changes during this period, including increasing requirements for end-user engagement, provides a natural experiment to evaluate drivers of knowledge use and consider opportunities for improvement to research evaluation. Quantitative and qualitative results show that funding requirements can significantly change research practice and strengthen the connection of research outcomes to specific management issues and contexts. Increased evidence of use corresponds with increasing interaction between researchers and end-users. Collaborative approaches to research that were motivated by increasing knowledge use by resources managers also result in other potentially positive benefits, though project teams and program managers struggle to evaluate these benefits over the lifetime of projects. NERRS has operationalized an approach to science funding where sponsor, researcher, and end-user are more interactive with one another, suggesting a potential model for funders and research institutions seeking to increase—and evaluate—the societal impact of science.