Institutional researchers can be confronted with ethical quandaries. Pressures from their institutions can conflict with professional standards and general ethical requirements. Analyses that appear to be neutral can conceal hidden assumptions that are unintentionally harmful to those individuals whom institutions have a responsibility to protect.…

Despite widespread agreement that privacy in the context of education is important, it can be difficult to pin down precisely "why" and "to what extent" it is important, and it is challenging to determine how privacy is related to other important values. This chapter seeks to better understand the concept of privacy in…

As we become increasingly acquainted with the rich opportunities that analytics systems can provide, there is a commensurate need to consider the extent to which analytics tools are effectively integrated, with proper training, into the day-to-day functioning of higher education professionals. This chapter explores the extent to which predictive…

In this chapter, we explore the contexts within which institutional researchers must try to ensure the ethical use of data. We also identify challenges institutional research professionals can face when navigating college culture while trying to ensure the ethical use of data. Finally, we identify potential solutions for improving institutional…

This chapter synthesizes research on women in STEM undergraduate fields and aims to sharpen our empirical and theoretical frameworks for future higher education research. Institutional research implications are discussed here and throughout the volume.

Research on women in STEM often silences the voices of minoritized populations, such as women of color, inpart because the most commonly used theoretical frameworks do not center or contextualize their experiences. This chapter highlights the importance of critical perspectives and methodologies such as intersectionality in research design. We…

This chapter provides tools, resources, and examples for engaging qualitative inquiry as a part of institutional research and assessment. It supports the development of individual ability and organizational intelligence in qualitative inquiry.

The chapter examines massive open online course (MOOC) research potential, areas of current research about MOOCs, and barriers to and frontiers of future research.

This chapter explores how critical lenses can be used to conduct transfer research and proposes a new methodological approach to understand the complex experiences and success of diverse transfer students.

This concluding chapter discusses the main challenges currently facing institutional research at small- and medium-sized colleges and describes how the field may evolve.

This concluding chapter reflects on the established and evolving body of transfer research and offers future directions for institutional research and higher education scholarship around transfer.

In this chapter, we explore the obligations for individuals and institutions that emerge from the newfound insights that are enabled through learning analytics. While ethical concerns are raised through learning analytics, a misplaced trend is a "do nothing" approach as a way to assure we "do no harm." We suggest that this is a…

A participatory framework in conducting research and implementing decisions can engage multiple constituents throughout a college community. At a small college, it is especially relevant, because nonmajority groups are especially vulnerable because of a smaller critical mass.

This chapter discusses methods and measures that are needed to conduct research on newly developing Applied Baccalaureate degrees that enable students to transfer applied college credits heretofore considered terminal to bachelor's degree programs.

If quantitative criticalism is thought to be a bridge between positivist epistemologies prevalent in quantitative work and social constructionism often found in critical qualitative work, then this bridge is fraught with challenges and tensions. This chapter examines the methodological issues, questions, and tensions that emerged from a research…