Responding to the call for higher education to adopt a new paradigm in managing its administrative processes, an Institutional Research Office at Delaware County Community College (DCCC) in Pennsylvania made a two-year effort to use a Total Quality approach in its management. Total Quality Management is a Japanese movement based on the teachings…

Total Quality Management (TQM), a technique traditionally reserved for the manufacturing sector, has recently spread to service companies, government agencies, and educational institutions. TQM places responsibility for quality problems with management rather than on the workers. A principal concept of TQM is the management of Process Variation,…

Designed for institutional researchers, this handbook provides practical guidelines for the operation of an effective research office. Chapter I defines institutional research and describes tasks a research office may undertake, including strategic planning support, budget development, facilities planning, personnel and staffing analyses,…

Faculty and administrative concern over the rising indirect cost rates at Cornell University (New York) precipitated this study, focusing on research funding and the expenses not easily identifiable with specific projects. Some of the questions addressed include: what are the costs, who pays for them, and which arrangements, policies,…

This collection of essays by current or former directors of institutional research represents the broad spectrum of size, function, and geography within institutional research in the two-year college. The volume contains: (1) "The Role of Institutional Research in Evaluation of Nontraditional Programs: College Preparatory Analysis at Miami-Dade…

The National Academies of Science recently recommended a battery of guidelines for Academe to create an "environment" conducive to the responsible conduct of research. These guidelines affect the research administration field as a whole, as research administrators will be expected to assist in these changes. Research administrators,…

Computerization, a new mood of interinstitutional cooperation, and the emerging triad of university, business, and government will create major changes in what universities will have to manage and in how they will manage it. Universities must begin to plan now for the substantial changes brought by cooperative research programs. (MSE)

Soviet and American scientists met at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, discussed recent research developments in a variety of disciplines and some controversial issues in science, and showed new willingness to exchange scientific information with the United States and other countries. (MSE)

Summarizes and compares Public Health Service rules and National Science Foundation policy concerning conflict of interest in research projects, and describes how large research universities have implemented them and developed appropriate conforming documents for disclosure and reporting purposes. Also discusses institutional considerations and…

Canada's Exemplary Schools Project, a study of 21 secondary schools nationwide, involved continual tension between the need for a coherent and shared national research approach and the need to allow local variation and initiative. A member of the national coordinating committee explores how this tension affected research design and the writing of…

A study investigated the effects of collaboration between university researchers, researchers and industry, and researchers and other institutions, especially government agencies, local governments, and organized interest groups. Results indicate collaboration of all kinds may increase researchers' productivity, whether or not collaborators have…

Gives an overview of the intellectual and social structure of science in the United States since the mid-1960s. Discusses some factors responsible for establishing new research directions. Describes the change of the meaning of "inquiry," circumstances, and research style. (Author/YP)

A study of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology suggests (1) an abrupt change in an institution's financial pattern need not mean loss of excellence; (2) in crisis, the institution must build on its strengths; (3) strong central planning is essential; (4) an excellent faculty is the first responsibility. (MSE)

Federal regulations concerning recovery of indirect costs of university research projects are changing. Institutions should explore possible alternatives for managing reporting of indirect costs for individual projects. One system, reporting indirect cost categories in the same format as direct costs, may give insight into expenditures and help…

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.…