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.