The role of institutional research in college management

Abstract

Institutional research is well established in postsecondary institutions in the USA as an effective tool for provision of accurate, reliable data to support management decision making. Institutional research offices are much less prevalent in such institutions in the UK however, particularly in colleges. The purpose of this paper is to outline the principal roles and functions of an institutional research office, briefly discuss relevant staffing issues (including important qualifications), and suggest some practical considerations regarding the role of institutional research in college management.     

数据挖掘技术在美国院校研究中的应用

数据挖掘是一项新兴的技术,是商业智能的重要组成部分.近年来,随着教育决策对量化分析和研究结果的愈加依赖,这项技术在美国高校管理和院校研究中的应用越来越广泛.许多研究表明这项技术能帮助大学管理人员更好地分析数据,从而获取潜藏的、有用的信息和知识,最终提高决策效率.     

高校初任导师的角色适应类型及其影响因素——基于22名“双一流”建设高校青年教师的访谈

高校青年教师成为导师的过程中会遭遇角色适应的挑战,但在学术研究和实际管理中并没有引起相应的重视。研究基于三元交互决定理论构建导师角色适应分析框架,通过对22名“双一流”建设高校青年教师的深入访谈发现,导师角色适应存在先验主导型、任务取向型、主体关怀型三种类型,青年教师在适应导师角色时会受到个体认知、信念、指导行为、院校制度、社会规范和学生特征等因素的交互影响。针对初任导师角色适应的特点,高校应注重导师角色准备期的前置教育和实践锻炼,重视导师角色探索期的个性化指导与支持,加强导师角色发展期的政策激励与制度保障,以此来有效提升青年初任导师的角色适应能力。     

美国高等教育发展进程中的院校研究

“院校研究”是流行于美国高等教育领域的一个重要术语。美国高等教育发展进程中的每一次重大变化都对院校研究实践产生了直接或间接的影响。院校研究在美国的产生和发展源于来自高等学校内部和外部两个方面的驱动力。高等学校基于改进院校管理的需要是院校研究得以产生的内在动力，而政府和社会公众对于高等教育质量和效益的关注所施加于高等学校的压力，则是推进美国院校研究大规模、制度化开展的根本原因。几十年来，院校研究的功能和领域不断扩展，为美国高等学校改进管理决策、提高办学效益、履行说明责任、赢得外部支持发挥了应有的作用。     

Seven maxims for institutional researchers: Applying cognitive theory and research

The paper presents seven institutional research maxims that are based on research and theory about how people cognitively process information: (I.) More may not be better. (II.) Augment humans with models. (III.) Chunk your data wisely. (IV.) Know your decision makers. (V.) Heuristics are not always helpful. (VI.) Arrange tables by patterns. (VII.) Negative evidence and new hypotheses are okay. Cognitive findings underlying each maxim are given, with concrete examples of how institutional researchers can apply the maxims to improve the collection, analysis, and especially the presentation of information for decision makers.     

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.     

The Role of Senior Public Relations Administrators in Institutional Decision Making: Are They at the Table?

ABSTRACT

The literature in higher education public relations affirms that senior public relations administrators should be involved in institutional decision making at colleges and universities. However, public relations professionals are often stereotyped more as information processors and manipulators than as key members of an institution's senior management team. This study examines the role of senior public relations administrators in institutional decision making at the 14 universities in Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education (SSHE). Based on the findings of this study, it may be concluded that SSHE senior public relations administrators are often not included in efforts to resolve important issues and influence institutional decisions.     

学生学习调查在中国院校管理和决策支持中的应用——基于中山大学学生学习调查的实践

学生学习调查在国内外的院校管理与决策中发挥着越来越重要的作用。中山大学学生学习调查作为从开发到应用都以院校研究为主旨的学生调查项目,探索把学生调查的结果分析与院校的管理和决策需要相结合,实践学生调查的决策支持模式。文章以列举案例的方式,重点介绍了中山大学学生学习调查在学校管理决策支持方面的应用情况以及经验,以期为学生学习调查在中国院校的"本土化"应用提供经验参考。     

Internet-Based Guidance in Quasi-Markets for Education in Sweden

This paper presents some recentSwedish experiences of how publicly financedInternet portals are used as a means ofproviding guidance on educational issues. Thepaper analyses the role of technology,information and further forms of support toguidance seekers, with special reference totheir role in the development of quasi-marketsin education in Sweden. The author concludesthat in quasi-markets Internet-based guidancecan assume a twofold role: first as a tool forproviding guidance according to moretraditional views; and secondly, as anelectronic intermediary and market-maker. Thequasi-market arrangements in Sweden coverprimary, lower and upper secondary forms ofeducation, which gives the Swedish experienceparticular value as a basis for discussing therole of Internet-based guidance inquasi-markets.     

利用信息可视化技术进行课程开发研究

课程开发是对课程整个运作过程的研究。将信息可视化技术引入课程开发研究,可将课程开发中的各种信息条理化和形象化,以直观的视觉效果和易观察性为课程开发提供有效的决策支持。     

The role of rationality in university budgeting

Many organizational functions, such as institutional research, assume that organizations make decisions rationally. The assumption is largely unjustified by empirical accounts of actual decision making. Higher education institutions are usually seen as political, collegial, or anarchic in their decision patterns. This study tests the participants' claim that the budget decision making process at Stanford University during the 1970s was rational. Although the study tends to support the claim, the results are neither conclusive nor comprehensive. The study provides (1) a rigorous and replicable procedure for testing the rational model, (2) evidence that rational decision making is feasible in higher education, and (3) grounds for refusing to assume pure rationality without abandoning hope of any rationality.     

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.     

Effective methods for institutional research: How important is institutional type?

Despite the view that institutional research is most successful when it is an extension of the administrators who need its products, most institutional research offices are centralized. In this paper a newly-organized, small college model that is both decentralized and integrated is described. Evaluation of the model is reported. Goals and activities are related to recently identified external and organizational factors that seem to contribute to the proliferation of institutional research.Susan H. Frost is director of institutional planning and research and adjunct assistant professor of education at Emory University. She holds degrees from Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia. Since 1990 she has organized the first offices of institutional research at both a comprehensive college and at a research university. Currently she is investigating patterns of institutional decision making on university campuses.     

The Role of Beliefs in the Use of Information Technology: implications for teacher education,or teaching the right thing at the right time

ABSTRACT

The decision of teachers whether to use or not to use computers depends on two basic categories of factors: factors at the school level and factors at the teacher level. At the school level the principal plays an important role in the support of innovations in school. The principal supplies financial, organizational and moral support and should give the innovation a long‐term perspective. However, teacher factors outweigh school‐level factors. Teachers have strong beliefs with respect to the content of their subject matter as well as to its pedagogy. The case studies described in this article show that those beliefs appear to change only very slowly. Teachers adopt new media if they can use them in accordance with their existing beliefs and practices. From the results of this research, implications are drawn with respect to the content and strategy of initial and in‐service teacher training in the field of information technology (IT).     

深化设备管理体制改革 助力一流学科建设

将支撑一流学科建设的设备管理融入设备全生命周期管理体系,激励跨学科的设备实现资源共享和科研合作,提升学科层级的自助服务和个性化应用水平。支撑一流学科建设的设备管理体制研究包括管理制度改进、工作流程优化和技术手段保障三方面。管理制度改进重在学科相关业务管理条款、评价及激励条款、数据管理制度、自助服务相关政策的研究;工作流程设计了专为一流学科新增的业务流程,并优化了部分现有业务流程;技术手段保障重在信息化需求、数据分析及决策辅助功能的设计。本文将为学科评价、学术评价、实验室和设备管理、虚拟实验平台、设备共享等一流学科的管理和服务提供有力支撑。     

美国高等教育数据库建设的经验与启示

高等教育数据库对于高等教育的评估、决策和研究都具有十分重要的意义。美国高等教育在其发展过程中,建立了比较完备的数据库体系。这主要得益于美国联邦教育部、高等教育研究机构与中介组织、各州高等教育行政部门和高校的共同努力、多方投入,以及对信息服务和专业化队伍建设的重视。这些可为我国的高等教育数据库建设提供参考。     

财税政策组合对企业技术创新的影响

以沪深A股高新技术上市公司2011~2019年相关数据为研究对象,实证检验财税政策组合对企业技术创新和可持续发展的影响效果和机理。研究发现:财税政策组合与企业技术创新之间呈倒U 型曲线关系,且随着创新水平的提高,财税政策组合对技术创新的影响弹性不断降低。同时,财税政策组合会通过“技术创新”这一中介桥梁对企业可持续发展产生倒U 型的影响作用,且与低技术创新相比,由于高技术创新更能提高企业竞争力,它发挥的中介作用更加显著。     

基于数据仓库的教育决策支持系统

如何从大量的教育数据中获取能够真正反映教育状况的有效信息,从而为领导决策提供科学支持,是教育部门普遍关心的问题。本文给出了一个结合实时联机分析(OLAP)和实时联机挖掘(OLAM)技术的教育决策支持系统的框架,该系统实现了对教育信息的有效存储,并能针对教育管理决策需要,对数据进行多层次、多维度的加工处理,从而揭示与教育活动相关的规律,为教育的宏观决策提供量化的、科学的数据支持。     

Intrinsic Motivation and Environmental Factors Affecting Research of Social Work Faculty on Aging

Within the context of Self-determination Theory, this research identifies intrinsic motivation and environmental factors that support social-work-faculty research in aging. Intrinsic factors include faculty's interest in gerontology as a field of practice, the desire to advance knowledge in the field of gerontology, including producing publications that disseminate information about their research, and the desire to make tenure and/or to advance their careers. Environmental factors include institutional supports such as release time to do research, reduced teaching loads, summer research support. Also included are mentoring relationships that complement the faculty's intrinsic motivation and create an environment supportive of research, grant writing, and publishing. Faculty motivation to work in the field of gerontology and institutional support for gerontological research are critical to sustain and expand the capacity of social work faculty to advance science in gerontology research. Such motivation is also needed to create vibrant academic environments that attract students at all levels into the field of gerontology, a field experiencing a rapidly expanding gap between service need and workforce capacity of social-work-faculty research in aging.     

效率·技术·制度——发展电子政务的三维立体分析

行政效率是行政管理学的核心问题,是行政管理活动的出发点和归宿。电子政务要实现这一目的和归宿,离不开信息技术和制度的支持。文章从行政效率、信息技术与制度创新三个维度对电子政务的发展进行了分析,以引起人们对构建科学的电子政务的重视。