Does Methodology Count? Lessons From the Research Assessment Exercise 2008.

The aim of this paper is to critically analyse the context and methodologies used in the more successful submissions to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 and to generate a model that can be of practical use in the Research Excellence Framework 2013. The results of the RAE 2008 in the field of Business and Management may have been disappointing for a number of institutions. However, this feedback is difficult to use in making improvements to performance. This paper uses XBS [anonymised for Review], a post- 1992 business school, as an example, and focuses on the Research Output aspect of the RAE ratings. It compares a sample of submitted outputs from this university and those of a more successful and a very successful institution, in order to discover the characteristics of papers submitted by those who were ranked higher in the RAE and the differences between theirs and those of XBS. Preliminary findings suggest that the papers vary substantially in terms of indicators of prestige and subject such as topic area, journal rankings and citations; indicators of resources and professional network such as number of different topics, authors and location of authors; and indicators of methodology and method. The analysis takes into account the requirements of the 2013 Research Excellence Framework (REF) in order to progress. In this way the results of the RAE may be used to assist in institutional preparations for the REF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]