Institutional research (IR) leaders rely on staff members to accomplish office missions and support institutional decisions. Like any supervisors in higher education, IR leaders must be familiar with a host of employment and intellectual property laws that guide the institution/employee relationship. This chapter offers insights into specific…

This new edition of Successful School Leadership brings in the latest evidence and material to what has remained a popular publication. While the fundamentals of what drives successful school leadership remain the same, new evidence further supports the arguments put forward by Christopher Day and Pam Sammons back in 2016. The growing interest in…

Working with partners including the Department of Education at Oxford University, the Centre for Equity in Education at the University of Manchester, the University of Glasgow, the University of Nottingham and the Hong Kong Institute of Education, "Education Development Trust" has commissioned a series of reviews of international…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the…

Presents an annotated bibliography of ERIC materials, covering problems, practices, and priorities in institutional research; the role of the institutional research office; and research guidelines and procedures. (DMM)

The Ethical Analysis Protocol is a set of questions on treatment of participants, research practices, and sociopolitical dimensions of research that can be used to elicit information about ethical assumptions, constraints, and implications of institutional research studies. They provide a framework for ethical analysis of an institutional research…

Useful reference material and a list of professional associations are provided for the institutional researcher interested in qualitative research. (MSE)

As part of a CfBT Education Trust funded study, we investigated the practical steps school leaders can take to ensure that self-evaluation of school performance led, through the effective staff development, to genuine school improvement. On the journey from self-evaluation to school improvement our research identified what schools did that worked,…

There is a need for cross-disciplinary or cross-institutional research on student learning outcomes in graduate and professional education. Challenges in this endeavor include determining the purposes of assessment and who conducts it, identifying and defining outcomes, and managing the use of results. (MSE)

It is recommended that student financial aid administrators undertake more research to improve their knowledge and control of their programs, understand the effects of policies, and help correct beliefs and attitudes. Choosing a research topic, creating credibility, and writing a complete report are discussed. (MSE)

A new model for administration of institutional research in small colleges is proposed as an alternative to the traditional centralized program model. Application of the model for two years suggests that its decentralized but integrated approach responds well to the institution's internal and external research needs. (MSE)

Policy analysis in higher education is distinct from but is informed by and can contribute to both institutional research and institutional planning. Policy analysis extends beyond data analysis, using many qualitative research methods and a degree of intuition, and focuses on specific issues, not systems as does planning. (MSE)

Ethnographic interviews offer the academic decision maker an alternative lens with which to gather information, develop hypotheses, and implement plans. Specific procedures must be followed to use the technique properly, and other research methods should accompany the ethnographic interview for increased validity. (MSE)

A review of some alumni research conducted at Stanford University (California) and the ways the findings have been used indicates the range of development and alumni-relations issues for which market research can be valuable. It also demonstrates the value of ongoing, rather than occasional, research. (Author/MSE)

There is no right way to forecast college enrollments; in many instances, it will be prudent to use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Methods chosen must be relevant to questions addressed, policies and decisions at stake, and time and talent required. While it is tempting to start quickly, enrollment forecasting is an area in which…