New Directions For Institutional Research

All around the world, postsecondary institutions are facing competitive environments, declining resources, and changing societal needs. Institutions are affected by globalization, state and local government needs, economic restructuring, information technology, and student and staff mobility. Institutional researchers have a critical role to play in addressing these issues. In this volume, we have embedded the practice of IR as experienced globally. We brought together a discussion that is delivered from multiple perspectives, but fundamentally one that draws from the collaborative efforts of practitioners across borders. By embedding notions of globalization that affect IR, we can engage readers in broad discussions on where we are coming from and where we are heading. This is the 157th volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Paper and electronic surveys of students and faculty have become increasingly popular in higher education research and are now used in almost all facets of assessment and planning. Yet as the demand for survey research has increased, survey response rates have been falling. Low response rates are problematic because they can call into question the validity of the results, as well as increase survey administration costs. This volume examines an array of survey research problems and best practices, with the aim of providing readers with ways to increase response rates while controlling costs. Many institutional researchers face additional demands such as administering multiple surveys over time, or administering surveys on sensitive subjects such as student alcohol or drug use. New technologies for survey administration also provide many different options. This volume discusses these issues in terms of the survey research literature as well as the experiences of practitioners in the field. This is the 121st volume of the higher education quarterly journal New Directions for Institutional Research.

Critics of student self-reported data claim that the accumulated corpus of research documenting student learning on the basis of survey responses stands on shaky ground. This volume argues that scholarship on proper use of student self-report data is woefully underdeveloped and contributing authors offer several important insights to assist IR practitioners in identifying potential limitations associated with self-report data. Volume editors Serge Herzog, director of institutional analysis at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Nicholas A. Bowman, postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, have assembled contributing authors who are leading scholars in the field of college student self-reports. Combined, the chapters draw on data from a mix of colleges and universities, capturing student growth at different stages of the undergraduate experience, and even beyond graduation. This is the 150th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

The focus of this volume is on the work of Institutional Researchers in a small college or university (SCUs) setting. At an SCU, the goal of the IR office is to balance the bureaucratic tendencies of data-driven decision making with the need for collegiality and collaboration. Drawing on numerous examples, it illustrates how IR professionals can leverage their positionality within the institution to design data flows to answer questions by serving as convergent thinkers, connecting disjointed systems and requests. This volume: identifies the challenges that small IR offices face reinforces the idea of collegiality as a defining feature of small IR offices discusses several principles for using data about teaching and learning explores the effects of low response rates in survey data and the effects of nonresponse bias demonstrates the importance of collaborative efforts in enacting change proposes a model of policy development focused on student success presents an effective model of SCU IR office development This is the 173rd volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Intended as a toolkit for academic administrators, faculty andresearchers to deal effectively with the rapid emergence ofcompetency-based learning models across higher education, thisvolume provides practical advice and proven techniques forimplementing and evaluating these models. Drawing from a recentNational Postsecondary Education Cooperative project that examineddata and policy implications across public and private institutionsas well as an industrial setting, readers will find an inventory ofstrong practices to utilize in evaluating competency-basedinitiatives. Issues discussed include practical concerns ofmeasuring and reporting competency; the critical connectionsbetween the skills employers seek and student preparation for them;the connections between distance education, accrediation, andcompetencies; and the difficult procedure of setting appropriatepassing standards for assessments. With a bibliography oncompetency literature and a framework for creating competencymodels, this volume is an invaluable tool to researchers andpractitioners alike. This is the 110th issue of the Jossey-Bass series NewDirections for Institutional Research.

While the term benchmarking is commonplace nowadays in institutional research and higher education, less common, is a solid understanding of what it really means and how it has been, and can be, used effectively. This volume begins by defining benchmarking as “a strategic and structured approach whereby an organization compares aspects of its processes and/or outcomes to those of another organization or set of organizations to identify opportunities for improvement.” Building on this definition, the chapters provide a brief history of the evolution and emergence of benchmarking in general and in higher education in particular. The authors apply benchmarking to: Enrollment management and student success Institutional effectiveness The potential economic impact of higher education institutions on their host communities. They look at the use of national external survey data in institutional benchmarking and selection of peer institutions, introduce multivariate statistical methodologies for guiding that selection, and consider a novel application of baseball sabermetric methods. The volume offers a solid starting point for those new to benchmarking in higher education and provides examples of current best practices and prospective new directions. This is the 156th volume of this Jossey-Bass series. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

This sourcebook is about successful strategic planning. Grounded in practice and experience, rather than theory and research, it presents firsthand accounts of strategic planning as effectively employed by presidents who used that approach as a potent device for shaping the futures of their colleges and universities in a time of uncertainties and challenges. The purpose of this volume of New Directions for Higher Education is to provides ideas, examples, and illustrations of strategic planning--a method by which institutions can creatively respond to threats and opportunities in the incresingly competitive environment confronting them, and at the same time, continue to serve the ideals that define their missions. This is the 64th issue of New Directions for Higher Education. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.