This chapter utilizes the duties and functions of institutional research to outline the skills needed by institutional research professionals in an evolving digital institution. The concept of future-proofing, explained and considered in this context, encourages professionals to develop skills for the present with the future needs of data-informed…

The Study Centre for Catholic Education was established in 1996 by the Italian Bishops' Conference to support the Italian Catholic schools. In these 20 years, it has published every year a Report about different aspects of the sector and has made a periodic quality monitoring of the Catholic schools. It has published also an annual data collection…

This chapter describes a new conceptual framework that informs research on factors influencing transfer in STEM fields of study from 2-year to 4-year institutions, presents a new survey instrument based on the framework, and offers directions for future research in this area.

A national survey of a professional field is an appropriate and logical undertaking for a professional membership association such as the Association for Institutional Research (AIR). The National Survey of Institutional Research Offices is the most comprehensive survey of offices of institutional research ever undertaken. The goal was to collect…

This chapter synthesizes the national discussion on other solutions to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), such as a national student record system, and complications. The authors will briefly examine the pros and cons of IPEDS while primarily focusing on national alternatives, as well providing specific examples for…

This chapter details the benefits and costs of participating in optional external reporting and considers how best to determine which reports represent the best use of time and resources.

This chapter builds on prior chapters and focuses on higher education trends on the horizon and the resulting impact on external reporting for institutional researchers. Three practical recommendations and examples for institutional researchers are also presented.

Analyzing the number of publications and proportion of corresponding authors of Latin American scholars and scholars from the German Max Planck Society (MPS) and the Leibniz Association (LA; 1954-2018), this article asks if North-South partnerships continue to represent power imbalances. Our bibliometric analysis indicates that (a) in comparison…

This chapter discusses how understanding differences between National Guard members, reservists, active duty personnel, and veterans in higher education can better inform institutional evidence-based decision-making to support military-connected individuals' college access and success.

This chapter discusses principles that support using data about teaching and learning and offers several strategies particularly well suited for use by institutional researchers at small colleges in helping faculty, staff, and administrators use data on student learning for improvement.

Purpose: The purpose of this multimethod study was to evaluate the institutional research capacity building and infrastructure model (IRCBIM), an emerging innovative and integrated approach designed to build, strengthen, and sustain adequate disability and health research capacity (i.e., research infrastructure and investigators' research skills)…

Organizational relationships are complex. Employees do their work as individuals, but also as members of larger teams. They exist within various social networks, both within and spanning organizations. Multilevel theory is at the core of the organizational sciences, and unpacking multilevel relationships is fundamental to the challenges faced…

The purpose of this oral history is to document the lived experience of the learning environment of African American students and culturally specific practices of African American teachers who taught in the legally segregated Louisville Central High School. Historically, segregated African American schools have been depicted as inferior…

This chapter puts forth a model of student-success-focused policy development at small colleges that elucidates the role of the institutional research (IR) professional, highlighting how the breadth of roles and responsibilities that IR professionals serve at these institutions intersect with traditional training and background.

The higher education sector today faces an environment unlike any it has seen before. Serving a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders and facing diverse and fast-changing economic, social, and political pressures, universities can benefit from corporate-like approaches such as the use of analytics to inform strategic decision-making…