The shaping of institutional research and planning

This paper reviews the origins of institutional research and its more recent association with a separately identifiable planning function. It examines in depth the issues involved in institutional research and planning and particularly emphasizes the role of values, politics, and social pressures in regard to the planning function. Planning by single institutions is likely to be more directed to attaining administrative and faculty aspirations than to meeting educational and social needs. As a result, there is considerable doubt that the institutional research and the planning function can be successfully conjoined. To prevent one dominating the other, the best resolution is that of interacting but independent units whose analyses and recommendations are brought into accord with reality (both needs and resources) by the administrations and boards in which responsibility for institutional operations is vested.The paper also points up some of the problems generated for institutional researchers by the poor quality and unjustified claims and recommendations of much of what purports to be scholarly writing or research on higher education.