Methods to evaluate institutional responses to performance-based research funding systems

Performance-based research funding systems (PBRFS) have been introduced in many countries for allocating funding to research institutions. There continues to be considerable debate about the effectiveness and consequences of these systems. This paper suggests several methods that can be applied to evaluate how institutions respond to new incentives created by the introduction of a PBRFS. The methods are illustrated using longitudinal data from the New Zealand PBRFS, which assesses institutional performance and allocates funds based on individual researcher performance, although not all methods require individual data. Longitudinal data enable the identification of entry, exit and quality transformation of researchers and the contribution of these dynamics to changes in university and discipline research quality. The approach enables a deeper understanding of individual and institutional responses to PBRFSs, the sustainability of changes and the contributions of changes in researcher quality and discipline composition to changes in institutional performance.