36. Practical Impact Planning and Evaluation: Dr Sarah Morton on contribution vs attribution and the Matter of Focus approach

View the full show notes, including a summary of practical tips on the Amplifying Research website: https://www.amplifyingresearch.com/podcast/36-sarah-morton

How can we move beyond hoping for impact to systematically creating it? What tools can we use to plan for the impact we want to see in the world, evaluate whether it's happening, and tell compelling stories about the change we're contributing to? Dr Sarah Morton takes us through the Matter of Focus framework and software designed to do just that.

(We’re releasing this ep a little early, between our usual monthly drops, to coincide with the ARMA UK conference. If you’re in Edinburgh, drop by the conference to say hi to Sarah and give OutNav a try in person! We’ll be back to our regular release schedule on July 1st with a new episode featuring returning fan-favourite guest Prof Phillip Dawson — all about his approach to crafting killer academic talks.)

Sarah spent 16 years working in knowledge exchange at the University of Edinburgh before co-founding Matter of Focus. Her team's approach to impact planning and evaluation stands out for its focus on using plain language and breaking things down in ways that are really easy to understand, and they’ve developed the software tool OutNav to help make all this practical..

"I think where the approach works best is if it becomes really part of the way you work. We've got to have more of a feedback mindset because people are doing great things, but they're often not reflecting on them and people are making huge assumptions about engagement, for example, that they're engaging the people who are most important to the change that they see, and quite often they're not." -- Dr Sarah Morton

Sarah walks us through Matter of Focus' four-step process: setting out your theory of change using plain language headings, auditing what evidence you already have, identifying gaps and collecting meaningful data, and building your impact narrative over time. We explore how this cyclical approach transforms impact work from bureaucratic afterthought to strategic advantage.

Our conversation covers:

• Why contribution analysis beats attribution thinking for complex change

• The four-step Matter of Focus process for impact planning and evaluation

• How to map pathways to impact using plain language frameworks

• Practical data collection methods that busy researchers actually use

• Moving from "broadcast mode" to strategic stakeholder engagement

• Embedding impact thinking into daily research practice

• How institutions can better support systematic impact work

Find Sarah online:

• Website: Matter of Focus

• LinkedIn: Dr Sarah Morton

Resources discussed:

• Software: OutNav

• Article: The Matter of Focus framework

• Article: An overview of the Matter of Focus approach

• Article: 3 feedback tools to help you track your outcomes and impact

• Article: How to bring different voices into your evaluation

• Article: 4 simple steps to start evidencing your research impact

• Case Study: Using OutNav to assess the impact of the Global Kids Online research initiative

• Book: How Do You Know If You Are Making a Difference? A Practical Handbook for Public Service Organisations