This study concerned the importance of performance evaluation criteria of a research funding agency in terms of strategic constituency perspective. In the past performance evaluation of research funding agencies was done by the same criteria used for the evaluation of government-sponsored research institutes. So it did not reflect properly the specific characteristics of research funding agencies. Also it did not make an effort to consider the different perspectives of various constituencies affecting the operation and survival of the agencies.
The purpose of this study is to develop the evaluation criteria reflecting generic characteristics of research funding agencies with a focus on Korea Science and Engineering Foundation(KOSEF) by reviewing and integrating the relevant literature and conducting in-depth interviews and structured questionnaire surveys of a range of strategic constituencies in the environment. Using self-report data from government officials, researchers/professors in universities, and members of KOSEF who were considered to have influence on the role and goal accomplishment of KOSEF, this study, using analytic hierarchy process(AHP), examined the difference among the performance evaluation criteria weights given by the constituencies.
The results of this study are as follows. (1) Four groups of performance evaluation criteria were identified: effort of resource acquisition, effectiveness of internal operation, effectiveness of program management, and outcomes of program execution. (2) AHP Analyses showed that evaluation items perceived important by each constituency are significantly different; this result was compared to the findings of multiple regression analysis based on the real evaluation data on the effectiveness of KOSEF and confirmed strongly.
In addition, this study found that there is a significant difference in evaluation scores given by different constituent groups, and within the group the scores are varying by the type of programs in the case of researchers/professors and by demographic characteristics such as age and position in the case of KOSEF's members.
