Institutional research and decision making: A bibliographic essay

A review of literature dealing with the relationship between the institutional research function and the decision-making process in higher education reveals a wide range of opinion. At one extreme are those who believe that institutional researchers should be little more than purveyors of data for use by the executive decision makers. At the other extreme are the advocates of an active institutional research role in policy analysis and decision making. A recurring theme in the literature summarized here is the precarious nature of an institutional researcher's position in the unique organizational milieu of higher education. Most sources agree that an institutional research office must be perceived by all parties as completely neutral in order to maintain credibility with both faculty and administration.     

Measurement for decision support

In order to explore possible impacts of changing information technology on the role of the decision support intermediary, that is, the institutional research analyst, three institutional research foundations, measurement, human information processing, and decision support technology are examined. The results of surveys of institutional research directors at Canadian and United States universities indicate high levels of information technology implementation including perceptible use of decision support systems on at least one-third of the campuses. The paper concludes that the role of the intermediary is probably not threatened by existing information technology but that the intermediary should expand traditional activities to include aid for management's user-driven computing for decision support.Presented at the 23rd Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Toronto, May 1983.     

A Call to Action: Gain a Seat at Decision Tables

No matter how much HPT practitioners improve human performance, we are not granted enough invitations to serve as tactical and strategic decision makers. Many “earning” decision makers such as financial experts regard HPT professionals as no more than operational‐level learning professionals. Therefore, HPT practitioners cannot rely on current decision makers to initiate a call for increased respect for the HPT industry. However, there is a contingent of HPT practitioners known as business‐entity performance technologists (BEP Techs) who serve as HPT activists by obtaining influential roles in decision processes. Their goals are to influence decision makers, become decision makers, support decision makers, and challenge decision makers from other industries to respect HPT practitioners as more than just learning professionals. To do this, they focus more on the improvement of business‐entity performance than on human performance. They seek to obtain respect for the HPT industry as both learning and earning professionals.     

Organizational Contexts and University Performance Outcomes: The Limited Role of Purposive Action in the Management of Institutional Status

Institutional researchers and decision makers have long been interested in the management of university status. To this end, the present inquiry examines the stability of various university performance indicators representing size, student aptitude, faculty scholarship, graduate programs, and ratings. Although these various institutional attributes are associated with status, changes in their characteristics are not found to be associated with changes in status. Instead, institutional status is found to be quite stable over time, largely predicated on past status levels. These findings offer a forum within which to discuss university status for the purpose of managing institutional change.     

IEA Studies and Educational Policy

IEA studies hold the promise of meeting governments’ needs to obtain information on how their educational system operates relative to other systems, which may help to identify deficiencies and strengths. In this paper, ways in which this information might influence policy and decision‐making are described and examples are provided of cases in which the findings of IEA studies have been reported to have influenced policy. Problems in interpreting and applying IEA findings are considered. Finally, nine conditions are outlined which international studies should meet if their findings are to satisfy the currently expressed needs of educational policy‐makers and decision‐makers.     

Why Universities Need Institutional Researchers and Institutional Researchers Need Faculty Members More Than Both Realize

This paper provides an overview of research that I have conducted during my career using data sets collected by offices of institutional research. Many of the examples discussed in the paper deal with graduate education. The paper illustrates how valuable the data collection efforts by these offices are to academic researchers interested in helping to formulate institutional, state and national higher education policies. It concludes with suggestions for how the usefulness of institutional researchers to colleges and universities can be improved and stresses that institutional researchers and administrators would be wise to involve more faculty members in research that aids in institutional decision making and the formulation of public policy towards higher education.     

‘A uniform seemed the obvious thing’: experiences of careers guidance amongst potential HE participants

The growth of higher education is a global phenomenon and provides challenges for educational leaders in schools and universities. Raising aspiration and participation requires an understanding of the sources of advice and information available to potential participants and how these are used when they decide whether or not to participate.

This article draws on a qualitative study using social network analysis undertaken in England. This study examined the nature of decision making amongst individuals who have chosen not to participate in higher education despite possessing the qualifications and experience which would enable them to be admitted to a university programme. The research sought to identify their decision‐making processes within the ‘networks of intimacy’ that are their family, friends and significant individuals in their educational and/or working environments, past or present. Lying at the heart of the research is the belief that, in social network analysis, it is the interpersonal relationships rather than the individuals that form the unit of analysis.

This article examines the role of information, advice and guidance (IAG) on individuals when they make the decision whether or not to participate in higher education. It considers the experience that individuals had at school, and explores their career decision making engaged in outside the school environment, and beyond the age of 18. It spells out the implications for educational leaders and managers in schools and universities as well as policy makers concerned about improving participation rates in all sectors of the community.     

Strategic assets or second-class citizens? Teaching-focused faculty in business schools

Business schools have significantly increased the percentage of teaching-focused faculty (defined here as full-time faculty with doctorates not on the tenure track) over the last decades. However, many schools have not adequately updated their policies to support these faculty, leading some teaching-focused faculty to feel like second-class citizens. In this article, we provide a literature review of teaching-focused faculty hiring trends, challenges faced by teaching-focused faculty and the institutions that hire them, and proposed improvements to these challenges. Next, we draw from these best practices provided in the literature, as well as from first-person interviews, to share how business schools address these challenges. Specifically, we use interviews from decision makers (current and former deans) to examine how schools approach hiring and supporting teaching-focused faculty. Our study shows improved institutional support and acceptance of teaching-focused faculty over the past two decades, but with room for continued improvement. We conclude by arguing that TF faculty should be treated as strategic assets within schools in order to support collegiality, acceptance, and professional respect, while also enhancing students’ learning opportunities. In doing so, we hope to start a discussion of best practices that can better equip schools to provide institutional support to teaching-focused faculty.     

Collaborative Research: Policy and the Management of Knowledge Creation in UK Universities

Collaboration in research activity is now the rule not the exception. It is encouraged by government, funding bodies and research councils. However, the concept of collaboration is difficult to define. It occurs at many different levels, driven by a complex research system-policy dynamic. Three different models of collaboration – inter-personal, team and corporate – are identified, each with their own rationale, structure, benefits and costs. The paper examines the institutional implications of these models. It argues that institutions and individual researchers conceptualise and operationalise research collaboration in different ways. Although vital to institutional mission, collaborative research is rarely mapped by senior managers with any precision. In general, institutional approaches to the management of collaborative research lag behind the policy rhetoric. The paper concludes with an overview of the key dilemmas for institutional strategists and policy makers posed by the shift towards more collaborative approaches to research.     

Organizational Practices Enhancing the Influence of Student Assessment Information in Academic Decisions

Student assessment should not be undertaken as an end in itself but as a means to educational and institutional improvement. The purpose of our study is to provide systematic empirical evidence of how postsecondary institutions support and promote the use of student assessment information in academic decision making. We use linear regression to determine which institutional variables are related to whether student assessment data is influential in academic decisions. Our conclusion is that student assessment data has only a marginal influence on academic decision making. Our data show there is slightly more influence on educationally related decisions than on faculty-related decisions, but in neither case is student assessment data very influential. Nonetheless, we did find several significant predictor variables in our model, including: the number of institutional studies relating students' performance to their interactions with the institution; conducting student assessment to improve internal institutional performance; involving student affairs personnel in student assessment; the extent of student assessment conducted; and the extent of professional development related to student assessment that is offered to faculty, staff, and administrators. These findings vary by institutional type.     

Improving alumni survey response rates: An experiment and cost-benefit analysis

Mail surveys are frequently used in higher education research as a means of collecting data relevant for college decision makers. Despite their prevalence, mail surveys have drawbacks, chief among them the potential for low response rates, which may compromise the credibility of research results and diminish their usefulness. Therefore, it is important for institutional researchers to plan and conduct mail surveys that achieve optimal response rates, especially in populations (i.e., alumni) where low response rates may be a problem. This research tested the effect of the survey procedures suggested by Dillman's (1978) Total Design Method on response rate to a mail survey of two-year college alumni. The method used was an experiment with four groups that varied in their degree of adherence to Dillman's procedures, i.e., amount of follow-up and degree of personalized approach. Subjects were randomly assigned to groups. Results provided a test of Dillman's techniques in an educational setting, further information for institutional researchers about ways to improve response rates, and an analysis of the costs and benefits of using Dillman's methods.     

Conveying findings of evaluations in early childhood education to decision makers: Relevancy and politics

A substantial amount of literature has evolved on the topic of conveying evaluation findings to decision makers in a manner that assures a premium utilization of the information. The literature includes such diverse topics as techniques for report format and design, and the relationship between a view of knowledge and evaluation utilization. A considerable amount of literature also suggests that a new dimension might be added to the role of evaluator. Tha passive evaluator who assumed that scholarship would carry the message to the decision maker seems to have given way to the persuasive evaluator advocated by House (1977). Perhaps an even more active role should be considered; a “political activist” role, if evaluation findings are to be effectively conveyed and maximally utilized.Effectively conveying findings to decision makers is important. The ethics of the relationship between evaluator and client dictate that the evaluator incorporate methods to assure that the client receives maximum information from the study. In addition, advocates of the program service (e.g., early childhood education) have a professional obligation to provide decision makers with the information necessary to seek enlightened choices. This is particularly important in early childhood education, a relatively new field often represented by highly visible government programs (e.g., Head Start, day care, compensatory education) that have rather tenuous legitimacy with many decision makers. As Weiss (1975) pointed out, new and innovative programs are scrutinized by evaluation, while established programs, regardless of their effectiveness, are allowed to continue with a minimum of review. If useful and valid evaluation information is allowed to be underutilized, especially in an era of extensive badget cuts, programs needed by children might be jeopardized.     

ALIGNING PRESCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA THROUGH A COLLABORATIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL

This article investigates how a Midwestern early childhood teacher’s practice and her views of her practice are culturally constrained. The research is framed by a cultural psychology and draws on an ethnographic and interpretive biographic study of Mary, an experienced first-grade teacher. We explore Mary’s practice through four central themes: (a) raising independent decision makers, (b) developing self-motivated lifelong learners, (c) providing a basis for a successful life, and (d) building community. We explore how each theme is informed by a folk psychology that reflects Mary’s cultural beliefs and values. We conclude with implications for early childhood practice and research     

A conspicuous production theory of resource allocation in higher education

Despite well-founded predictions that the 1970's and 80's would be characterized by excess capacity in graduate education, new graduate programs have continued to appear and existing programs have expanded capacity. This paper proposes a utility maximization theory to explain the continuation of the growth process and describes the nature of the public policy which will be necessary to effect changes in resource allocation in higher education. The basic hypothesis of the theory presented in this paper is that utility maximization of decision makers in higher education is functionally related to minimization of the gap between desired and prevailing institutional status. In an operational sense, status depends on an institution's factor complement, i.e., the institution's instructional and research programs and the quality of faculty and other inputs used to operate these programs. This implies that factor complements provide utility to decision makers in addition to their actual contribution to the educational process. Recognition of this factor and the oligopolistically interdependent nature of the decision making process in higher education is essential for the formulation of effective public policy to induce necessary reallocation of resources to graduate programs.     

How Government Policy Is Implemented in the Private University: A Case Study from China

This article is based on original research into institutional governance in private universities. It provides an in-depth qualitative study of how the private university in China has responded in practice to government policies. The analysis focuses on three dimensions: the roles of the university council, the president, and the university constitution. The study adopted two methods of data collection: 31 separate semi-structured interviews with 21 informants as well as extensive documentary analysis. Findings revealed that while external policies provide an impetus for change for each university, how key actors in institutional governance understand these policies has a significant effect on how the policies are implemented. This can result in change that can be viewed as either symbolic alteration or as operational change. This study provides insights from an empirical investigation by way of a case study on private university governance in China, and also a referential perspective on the governance of private universities in general for policy makers, senior managers, and academics.     

The Application of the Cooperative Principle in Text Messages

The language of text messages speeds up the transmission of information,shows the richness of languages,and contains all kinds of implication. Many researches on text messages have been published but the analysis of the languages of text messages in the domain of Grice's cooperative principle is open to investigate. This paper explores the language of text messages based on Grice's Cooperative Principle(CP) and its maxims,which aims to understand how the theory influences the text message communication and create some humorous effect. It is of practical significance to research text messages as a kind of language phenomenon.     

Research,theory and practice in the USSR

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it would be interesting forProspects readers to take stock of education in the Soviet Union. The idea is not so much to review progress in education since 1922 as to speak of the present situation, with its strong points and its unsolved problems, and to outline how you think education in the USSR should develop in the next two decades. It would also be desirable for emphasis to be placed mainly on qualitative aspects, since the quantitative problems (enrolment in schools, teachers, schoolbooks, premises, services of all kinds, etc.) have largely been solved. This approach is all the more necessary because little is known outside the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe about the state of not tell those interested in education in your country about the qualitative aspects of your system, about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’. Furthermore, the special concerns of the education system in the USSR in terms of recent developments would seem to be: the universal phenomenon of the ‘information explosion’; the universalization of secondary education, practically achieved at the end of the 1970s and the major ‘Guidelines for the Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981–85 and for the Period Ending 1990’ adopted in March 1981 by the Twenty-sixth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This is the larger context surrounding this interview, with the successive questions treating theoretical and practical problems, the linguistic situation in the USSR and, finally, educational research and the dissemination of its results outside your country.     

院校研究的性质与特征

院校研究就是在一定理论观照下 ,应用科学的方法和程式 (特别是定量分析的方法和程式 ) ,对单个高等院校运行中的实际问题进行分析评估论证 ,从而直接服务于该校管理决策的一种研究范式。院校研究在内容和范围方面的最大特点是多样性 ;从研究对象上看 ,院校研究是一种个案研究 ;从任务上看 ,院校研究旨在研究特定院校的特定问题 ;从方法上看 ,院校研究的主要特点是科学性和定量化 ;从主体方面看 ,院校研究具有专业性和制度性的特点 ;从功能上看 ,院校研究表现出直接性和全面性的特点     

Practice what you preach: Adoption of internal campus innovations at Dutch research-intensive universities

Campus decision makers are increasingly expected to adopt ‘campus innovations’ (affecting real estate and different facilities), not only from the market and demand-led (external campus innovations), but also developed by the university's own scientists (internal campus innovations). The adoption of the latter can be driven and hindered by many unique factors that campus decision makers have not dealt with before. To provide insight into them, qualitative data were collected from 13 out of 14 Dutch research-intensive universities. The results indicate that internal campus innovations are driven by co-creation stimulation, collaborative partnership, transparency and accountability, and local development contribution. Their adoption, however, may be obstructed by barriers embedded in the interaction between campus decision makers and scientists, organizational university context, funds unavailability and innovations' supply-pushed characteristics. An increased understanding of these barriers and the practices to overcome them is crucial for universities' campus decision makers to actively engage in the adoption of internal campus innovations.     

Institutional Research: Knowledge,Skills, and Perceptions of Effectiveness

Terenzini (1993) approached the issue of institutional research effectiveness by articulating three tiers of organizational intelligence necessary for effective institutional researchers. Responses (n = 601) from a nationwide survey of AIR members provided for an empirical investigation based on this concept. The study examined the existence and acquisition of examples of institutional research knowledge and skills and how they relate to perceptions of effectiveness. Participants indicated that they were effective in their functions and reported that they possessed examples of the technical, issues, and (to a lesser extent) contextual knowledge and skills articulated by Terenzini. Multiple regression revealed the relationships between background characteristics, knowledge and skills in institutional research, and perceptions of effectiveness to be minimal, however. The authors conclude that an institutional researcher's effectiveness can perhaps only be adequately evaluated relative to institutional culture and expectations and leaders' personalities and orientation toward decision making.