Language used in UK research case studies reveals how words affect assessment scores

Nature : Every few years the Higher Education Funding Council for England assesses the value of the research performed by the UK’s universities. The 2014 audit required that universities explain the impact of their research efforts through case studies that would account for 20% of their grade; the council received nearly 7000 of them. At the request of Nature, Paul Ginsparg of Cornell University performed a statistical analysis of the words used and found some predictable results, such as the frequent use of “research” and “impact.” Other words used often were “development,” “policy,” and “health.” Ginsparg noted a correlation between high assessment scores and the frequent use of words such as “million,” “market,” “government,” “major,” and “global.” He also found a similar correlation between low scores and the repeated use of words such as “conference,” “university,” “academic,” and “project.” That could suggest that language used to show the research’s economic impact was more appealing to the graders.