In an educational context, the accurate determination of each student's socioeconomic status (SES) is important for planning, reporting and general institutional research. This article describes a project undertaken to develop the means to derive a proxy measure of students' SES, based on home address location and Australian Bureau of Statistics…

Data governance is a relatively new and evolving discipline. It encompasses the people who are responsible for data quality (the stewards); the policies and processes associated with collecting, managing, storing and reporting data; and the information technology systems and support that provide efficient infrastructure. Higher education…

Benchmarking has traditionally been viewed as a way to compare data only; however, its utilisation as a more investigative, research-informed process to add rigor to decision-making processes at the institutional level is gaining momentum in the higher education sector. Indeed, with recent changes in the Australian quality environment from the…

Student retention is the field of institutional research that has (deservedly) had the most attention. Besides the models proposed by Tinto (1975, 1993), there have been many theoretical and applied papers on many aspects of student retention. These include demographic characteristics, scholastic scores, financial and residential considerations,…

The scope of institutional research (IR) undertaken in Australasian universities is progressively expanding. A traditional focus on student life cycle elements such as enrolment, retention and satisfaction has been complemented for some years now by other areas of focus including research performance and community engagement. More recently,…

A descriptive analysis is given of the authors and articles appearing in "Research in Higher Education" since the journal was founded in 1973. The analysis compares the 1980s with the 1970s according to subject matter, methodology, authors and institutions. (Author/MLW)

The use of the institutional research function in higher education institutions in Australia is discussed. The importance of this function for active and long-range planning and information gathering is emphasized, and the organization of the information system--centralized or decentralized--is considered. (MSE)

A university teacher speaks of changes that have taken place in Canadian universities over the last two decades and also of future opportunities and needs. (CJB)

In order to explore possible impacts of changing information technology on the role of the institutional research analyst, three institutional research foundations, measurement, human information processing, and decision support technology are examined. (Author/MLW)

What transpires when an institution of higher education is the defendant in a class action suit charging prejudicial treatment of a minority group is summarized. A demonstration of how the plaintiffs can use the institution's own data to establish a prima facie case for disparate treatment is presented. (Author/MLW)

Seven institutional research maxims based on research and theory about how people cognitively process information are discussed: more may not be better; augment humans with models; chunk data wisely; know decision-makers; heuristics are not always helpful; arrange tables by patterns; and accept negative evidence and new hypotheses. (Author/MLW)

The types and number of faculty cases litigated and reported at state and federal levels for the 1982 calendar year are discussed. From categorical data summaries, suggested institutional research data bases and studies were formulated as advanced planning mechanisms. (Author/MLW)

Results of a national survey of colleges of optometry concerning the form, scope, and methods of their short-term, long-term, and strategic planning activities are presented and discussed. (MSE)

Discusses common themes in the limited research on Appalachian institutions of higher education: interinstitutional links and links between institutions and the broader community. Reviews trends that offer research opportunities (the impact of K-12 reforms on higher education, effects of information technology on higher education, student…