Let someone else affirm your research impact

The most convincing evidence in your impact story might not be in it yet: a quote from the right person.

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If the only people quoted in your impact story are the researchers who did the work, you could be missing your most convincing evidence. A direct quote from someone who used, adopted, or was affected by the research is a form of evidence.

This is especially useful when quantifiable impact metrics aren’t yet available – which is often the case.

Research impact takes time. If an industry group is still in the process of integrating your findings, for example, you may not be able to express your impact in numbers, whether they are dollars or hectares or humans affected. But you can include a representative saying, ”We’re considering changing how we approach this“ or “We’re now updating our advice”, which is a verified claim about a real-world outcome. (It’s also a really strong lead to chase up for another impact story in a couple of years.)

Talk to the research user early

In the previous article in this series, we made the case for sending your draft to the main research user to check accuracy. This article is about the benefits of taking that approach one step further – talking to a research user before you even start writing.

When it’s practical (because sometimes it’s not), this is our preferred approach to writing impact stories. After we’ve spoken to the researcher to understand the project, we ask: who’s actually implementing the real-world change? Then we talk to that person. Their perspective then shapes the draft from the start.

We’ve found that researchers and research users usually describe the same work quite differently. Combining both perspectives makes for a more well-rounded and accurate impact story.

How to have a useful conversation

If you’ve never interviewed someone before, it can feel daunting. But an impact story interview is a conversation, not the 6pm news. You’re just asking someone to describe their experience.

A few things that might help:

• Ask the right person. You want the person using the tool, implementing the approach, or making decisions based on the findings. That’s often not the most senior person.
• Be direct: “We’re writing up the impact of this project and would love to include your perspective, and make sure we understand how you’re applying the research. Would you have 30 minutes for a chat?” That’s enough for now. You can request specific quantitative metrics by follow-up email if your conversation confirms these exist.
• Ask open questions. The best questions let people talk in their own words: What’s actually different now as a result of this work? Were there challenges in applying the research, and how did you work around them? (This question might draw out a great story or provide useful feedback for the research team.) What would have happened if this research hadn’t been done?
• Something concrete – a number, a specific change, an honest opinion – is usually a good quote. Generic praise (“it was a great team to work with”) is nice, but it isn’t impact. If you get a general answer, try asking “Can you give me an example?”
• Always send the quote, ideally the full story, back to the person for approval. This builds trust and ensures accuracy.

What a good quote sounds like

A weak quote is one that could be copy-pasted into any impact story about any project: “It was a valuable collaboration” or “The research was very helpful”.

The strongest quotes are specific, human, and say something the narrative can’t.

In an Our Land and Water-funded project where farmers adopted te ao Māori approaches to soil health, one farmer told a researcher: “Now I see farming as fun again”. Those six words tell the reader more about the impact of that research than a paragraph of description could.

Start with one conversation

Pick one potential impact story and have one conversation with one end user. See what it adds.

In our experience, it almost always improves, or even transforms the story. You get detail you didn’t have, language that’s natural and convincing, and evidence of impact that isn’t visible in external sources.

Throughout this series, we’ve borrowed from journalism: lead with what matters most, match your confidence to your evidence, and include real voices. These writing techniques make impact stories more effective, more credible, and more interesting to read. Your research was the hard part. Your impact story just needs to be engaging and readable, so people can appreciate it!

This is the final article in our series on writing more effective impact stories. Article one was about structuring your impact story, and article two was about being compelling without overclaiming.