Higher education as a field of study emerged as universities became complex institutions requiring data and interpretation for effective management and governance. The field expanded in the mid-20th century, and now includes many research and other journals, books, and other reports and publications. Academic departments and centers have been…

This discussion constructs a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research and then introduces the…

This article highlights the role of sustainability appraisal for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Traditional HEI appraisal systems lack a way to assess the integration of sustainability principles reflecting societal needs with the consequences of research, education and management of HEIs. Two appraisal systems are discussed. The Austrian…

Institutional autopsies can teach much about why learning centers fail the test of time. St. Augustine Junior College in north Florida, the brainchild of Dr. George Apel, was begun in 1942 and ended seven years later in 1949. The purposes of the short-lived college are identified for discussion in this paper. Also identified are the reasons for…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research in California. As the system IR office for the largest community college system in the nation, it is often looked to as a leader for other states and community college IR systems. The author notes the office's administrative environment, its staffing and…

Multilevel modeling offers researchers a rich array of tools that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as analyzing specific institutional issues, looking for macro-level trends, and helping to shape and inform educational policy. One of the more complex multilevel modeling tools available to institutional researchers is cross-classified…

The future challenge and opportunity for institutional researchers is to serve as change agents with involvement in initiating, implementing, and evaluating campus work. Institutional researchers are poised to excel at doing so because of the array of technical skills they routinely apply to existing institutional research roles. Their work…

In this article, the authors detail the major themes set out in the previous articles in this volume, tying them together using the framework of organizational intelligence. In his article about the nature of institutional research, Terenzini (1993) invoked the concept of organizational intelligence, arguing that institutional researchers must be…

This essay builds on and extends earlier research and writing that the authors have done, trying to understand how a commitment to local engagement, which is the term commonly used at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), becomes embedded in the core work of the institution. Their inquiries have been guided by social psychologist Kurt Lewin's…

Following Dr. Edward Hitchcock's lead at Amherst College in 1861, soon other institutions of higher education established physical education departments that evolved into independent college health programs. As the field of college health expanded, leaders from numerous campuses began meeting to share information and discuss formation of a…

The system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) plays a role in the drama of higher education that states must orchestrate to help community college systems operate effectively and efficiently over the long term. But how exactly does the SOCCIR enable a state to accomplish what the separate institutional research (IR)…

The community college environment is complex and dynamic, requiring constant monitoring. To ensure that workforce education, a core component of community colleges' missions, remains aligned with colleges' environments, responsive to employers' needs, suited to students' interests and abilities, and current in content and technology, it is…

Community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) often serve the same populations; however, the historical purposes, policies, and practices of HBCUs often better prepare them to serve first-generation students. Although both HBCUs and community colleges have their origins within the same historical period, the forces…

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,…

In this article, the authors discuss the utility of combining quantitative and qualitative methods in conducting intersectional analyses. First, they discuss some of the paradigmatic underpinnings of qualitative and quantitative research, and how these methods can be used in intersectional analyses. They then consider how paradigmatic pragmatism…