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This article provides some reflective thoughts on current research on regulatory impact assessment (RIA) in Europe. The narrative draws on the author's fieldwork diaries. It starts from the methodological problems of identifying and analysing regulatory impact assessment in the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. This leads to more fundamental theoretical questions about research design, the relationship between supply and demand of research and, ultimately, the aims of academic research in this area. The conclusions draw lessons for the emerging research agenda on better regulation. The main problem is not whether 'real' RIAs exist or not, since this would be equivalent to trying to fit the amoeba-like RIA 'substance' into our abstract 'forms'. The interesting problems are: what are the functions of different approaches to assessment, how are they used and how can they improve governance? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]