Student attrition continues to be a significant and costly challenge for higher education institutions across the globe. In Australia, universities cite the importance of addressing student attrition through strategic statements and policy documents, and expend time and resources on the problem. Despite vast expenditures, they have made little…

The numbers of Chinese teenagers studying abroad have dramatically increased since the late 1990s, and this phenomenon has received significant attention from researchers and policymakers alike. There is substantial consensus about its proximate causes -- the recent changes in the higher education landscape and the labour market in China and…

The numerous issues and problems facing college and university decisionmakers and the ever increasing information needs of external agency representatives place conflicting pressures on institutional research personnel, forcing them to make difficult decisions regarding the allocation of their resources. Outlined are several such pressures. It is…

Three experiments examined what happens to reaction time to verify easy items when they are mixed with difficult items in a verification task. Subjects verification of simple arithmetic equations and sentences took longer when placed in a difficult list. Difficult sentences also slowed the verification of easy arithmetic equations. (Author/RD)

The selection of appropriate data sources for institutional research is discussed. It is suggested that the provision of timely, accurate information for administrative decision-making depends on the researcher's ability to determine which data are relevant to the problem. This is of particular concern for institutional researchers because they…

A wide variety of topics are discussed in relation to research needs and classified in relation to problem areas, decision-making areas, and recommendations. Areas under discussion include an examination of the decision-making structure of the Speech Communication Association, criteria by which decisions can be evaluated, conceptualizing the…

The academic community and the support base for higher education are seen as two seemingly opposing forces. Institutional research is proposed as a third force which, in its role of intermediary and articulator, can re-energize the planning-management systems of higher education. (Article originally published in 1972.) (AF)

Gilligan's work at Harvard University has centered about the study of female thinking and moral decision making. She and her colleagues tried to repair the omission of girls' voices from the psychological literature. She is currently studying boys' narrowed self-expression and wants schools to amplify children's voices. (MLH)

The preparation and use of data needed to make objective, useful comparisons in higher education are considered. The needs for comparative data in higher education, including demands for accountability and strategic planning, are reviewed. In addition, data-related problems are considered: problems of narrowness, misrepresentation, sameness,…

The communication of research findings among collegiate institutional researchers is considered in relation to the contribution of qualitative language in general, and catastrophe theory in particular. The qualitative language of catastrophe theory may help reduce the arbitrariness of description, through identification of qualitative features…

Selected issues in educational research and development are discussed as they relate to local educational agencies and institutions of higher education. Local education agencies are defined as public supported schools (elementary, middle/jr. high and high schools) and institutions of higher education as state supported colleges and universities…

The major objectives in the establishment of a clinic in a department of psychology are to provide a setting for clinical training and for clinical research. Five issues must be considered in order to evaluate a departmental clinic effectively. First, there should be prior specification of objectives and periodic restatement of goals that include…

Evidence about minority students' educational and career decisions, especially as they apply to careers in management, is reviewed. Problems of data collection concerning minority students are identified, including the following: methodological difficulties in identifying the race of respondents and in weighting procedures that may result in…

Proceedings of the 1979 conference of the Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR) are presented. The conference theme was the future of institutional research. Contents include reports of preconference workshops, speeches, panel reports, abstracts of papers, and reports pertaining to the affairs of the SAIR. Documents and authors…

The purpose of this book is to provide a basic resource that defines the ethical issues in higher education and to offer a starting point for means of resolution or policy development in regard to them. Part 1 establishes an interpretive framework for the book in the following papers: "Institutional Culture and Ethics" (David Smith and…