Creating and observing impacts in transdisciplinary projects ‐ Insights from the social design lab

Thorough yet feasible impact assessment concerns projects of all kinds, including transdisciplinary real-world labs. In many cases, ex-post impact analysis for accountability and reporting is the goal. However, the real-time impact observation methodology developed by the social design lab seeks to identify impacts, potentials, and changing needs during the course of the project, complemented by ex-ante and ex-post analysis. This allows for learning and prompt iteration of the research/project design.

In this article, we reflect on approaches for creating and observing impact in transdisciplinary projects. Based on the insights from the work of the social design lab (sdl), we describe the demands for impact observation in a transdisciplinary project context ‐ enable strategic project iteration through real-time observation of achievements, challenges and potential, learn about impact patterns and record intangible forms of impact ‐ which created the need for developing a new methodology. We therefore outline the main elements of our impact observation methodology: ex-ante impact orientation, impact observation and reflection throughout the process as well as ex-post analysis. The sdl’s experience has shown that integrating impact observation into daily work is time-consuming but worthwhile. For us, impact observation is a central research tool for identifying social transformation and its potential, to account for organisations’ own activities and for supporting internal learning and project management processes.