Scientific and technical human capital: an alternative model for research evaluation

TLDR

S&T human capital expands traditional individual endowments to include tacit, craft, and social knowledge, enabling researchers to create and transform knowledge through productive networks. The authors propose an alternative evaluation model for science and technology projects that emphasizes scientists’ career trajectories and sustained capabilities over discrete product outcomes. Their model assesses scientists’ human capital by reviewing literature and addressing practical data and measurement issues, focusing on career trajectories rather than immediate outputs.

Abstract

We provide an alternative model for evaluating science and technology projects and programs. Our approach, a "scientific and technical human capital" (S&T human capital) model, gives less attention to the discrete products and immediate outcomes from scientific projects and programs - the usual focus of evaluations - and more attention to scientists' career trajectories and their sustained ability to contribute and enhance their capabilities. S&T human capital encompasses not only the individual human capital endowments but also researchers' tacit knowledge, craft knowledge, and know-how. S&T human capital further includes the social capital that scientists continually draw upon in creating knowledge - for knowledge creation is neither a solitary nor singular event. In sum, it is this expanded notion of human capital when paired with a productive social capital network that enables researchers to create and transform knowledge and ideas in ways that would not be possible without these resources. We review literature contributing to an S&T human capital model and consider some of the practical data and measurement issues entailed in implementing such an approach.