This Topical Paper presents the viewpoints of several practitioners in the field of institutional research. It's oriented toward providing the initiate to the profession with guidelines to successfully implement a practice. Specific topics covered are: (1) organization and administration of institutional research; (2) building the foundations of…

A personalized account of the value of experience as an institutional research director in undertaking the role of college president is provided in this paper. After initial references to the competing demands made of a college presdient, some qualities appropriate to individuals in this office are identified, including: (1) openness to new ideas;…

Institutional research (IR) in community/junior colleges in past years has been limited to gathering data for external agencies, concentrating on raw demographic data and student flow studies. IR should be directed toward providing data for administrative decisions and for successful maintenance of college operations. In spite of the heavy demands…

This document compiles a year of institutional research produced at Tallahassee Community College. The 72 reports compiled here include several intra-institutional memoranda, annual reports to state and federal authorities, and reports to campus-wide committees, faculty senate committees, and individuals. Reports are presented in chronological…

Cites and provides annotations for eight documents and five journal articles from the ERIC collection dealing with institutional research in the two-year college. (AYC)

By helping to concentrate the efforts of all organizational units on institutional goals, by establishing research-based information systems, and by learning to allocate scarce resources efficiently, institutional researchers can offer numerous benefits for the management and operation of 2-year colleges. A comprehensive institutional research…

This paper reviews the empirical literature regarding factors associated with the development of Institutional Research (IR) offices in community colleges. The IR office is defined as any organizational unit which has at least one half-time staff member given responsibility for the synthesis and reporting of institutional data, is visibly…

Illinois public community colleges were surveyed in November 1976 to determine the current level of community college institutional research activity and to identify changes in the institutional research function over the previous three years. Results of the study showed: (1) statewide, 22 full-time and 13 part-time professionals and 20 full-time…

Twenty-eight deans of instruction (out of 29 contacted) responded to a survey eliciting information on institutional research at small junior colleges (head-count enrollment of 3,000 or less) in Texas. The survey instrument covered four general questions: (1) is there a systematic on-campus procedure for compiling information; (2) what information…

A description is provided of Rancho Santiago College's institutional research program, which uses a traditional centralized research model, augmented with alternative, decentralized approaches. First, background information is presented on the college and the role of the research office in management, decision-making, and educational support.…

Presents an overview of the centralized research model employed at Rancho Santiago College, demonstrating that, although research is coordinated in a single office, the goal of broad-based staff involvement in research is enhanced through flexible staffing of the research office and integration of the research function into college governance.…

In February 1980, a survey was conducted of 135 rural community/junior colleges in the Southeast to determine the college president's perception of the role and activities of the office of institutional research (OIR). Specifically, the survey instrument solicited information concerning: (1) the OIR's areas of inquiry with regard to…

A survey of 35 two-year colleges with exemplary institutional planning systems was conducted to determine the present status of institutional planning and to develop a conceptually sound planning process model. The 35 colleges were asked to complete a survey instrument focusing on over 250 variables; 32 colleges responded. Survey results indicated…

In 1991, a national survey was conducted of institutional research directors at 150 two- and four-year colleges to investigate practitioner perceptions of institutional research effectiveness and productivity. Randomly selected directors of institutional research were mailed a one-page questionnaire, requesting information about institution size…

A survey of the 51 Illinois public community colleges was conducted during February 1980, to assess the status of institutional research (IR) at the colleges and to determine how that status had changed since the completion of similar surveys in 1973 and 1976. Major findings indicated that while 67% of the colleges had offices of institutional…