Institutional Research
The Nature and Purpose of Institutional Research
Institutional research is research conducted within an institution of higher education to provide information which supports institutional planning, policy formation and decision making. The institution may be a single campus, a multi-campus system, a state or provincial system or an even larger grouping of colleges and universities.
The subject of institutional research is the individual college, university, or system. While institutional research can involve data and analyses which contribute to wider knowledge about how colleges and individuals function, this type of result generally is not sought for its own sake.
Activities of institutional research are frequently undertaken in association with specific planning, policy, or decision situations. Information to answer specific questions is desired. How many sections of a specific course should be offered? By what amount should tuition rates be increased to produce a target amount of tuition income? Is attrition a problem at our institution? Are our faculty salaries competitive with those paid by peer institutions? Are the outcomes of our degree programs what the stated purposes of the programs suggest they should be? Institutional research designed to answer such questions is a form of applied research.
The assembling of the quantitative and qualitative information for use in periodic or ad hoc reviews of programs or organizational units illustrates the form of institutional research having characteristics of evaluation. Information on cost and productivity underlies judgements about efficiency. Information on other characteristics of programs and units and on outcomes leads to judgements about effectiveness or quality. Information on program purposes, on programs offered by other institutions, on the labor market and on potential demand produce judgements about the need for academic programs. Judgements of these types lead to decisions about program initiation, continuation, and improvement.
Excerpt from:
Saupe, J. L. (1990). The functions of institutional research. AIR for Management, Research, Policy Analysis, and Planning.
The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) - the the go-to source for information, resources, and training for professionals who collect, analyze, interpret, and communicate data in higher education - has developed a list of the core duties and functions of institutional researchers.
Identify information needs
This functional area reflects the iterative process of identifying relevant stakeholders and their decision support needs. It includes anticipating questions through review of data, information, and research and policy studies, including those related to institutional, state, national, and international conversations around higher education. It also includes assisting stakeholders in developing and refining research questions.
Collect, analyze, interpret, and report data and information
This functional area reflects the technical tasks employed by institutional research to provide data, information, and analysis for decision support. It involves an understanding of the data available to answer pressing questions about student access and success and institutional operations and the process by which previously unavailable data are collected. The process of collecting and reporting required and requested data is encompassed in this area. This function also incorporates applied research methods to analyze data to provide information for decision making, including appropriate interpretation of analysis results.
Plan and evaluate
Planning may include operational, budgetary, and strategic planning in which institutional research collaborates with other units at the institution, state, or related organizations. It may also include program review, particularly for accreditation purposes. Formative and summative evaluation processes conducted at an institution use IR data and analysis for planning and decision making purposes.
Serve as stewards of data and information
This functional area highlights institutional research’s role in ensuring an institution-wide data strategy. Compliance issues such as privacy and security and ethical issues such as determining what data and information should be used for various purposes, and whether interpretations are correct and appropriately used, are also critical to this area. This area also includes the contribution of IR to data quality assurance activities. IR’s role in ensuring data are appropriately accessible and usable to those who need them to make decisions is inherent in this function as well.
Educate information producers, users, and consumers
This functional area encompasses the training and coaching related to the use of data, analysis, and information to inform decision making. Education can be focused on ensuring the ability to collect, access, analyze, and interpret information independently and in collaboration with other stakeholders. The function also includes a collaborative role in convening discussions related to information needs and connecting internal and external producers and users of data with one another for purposes of informing decision making. Scholarship to inform and improve data, information, and analysis for decision support is also included in this function.
My Selected Work in Institutional Research