This case study is based on research undertaken in 2021 that was prompted by the disruption of COVID-19 in higher education institutions and the subsequent pivot to online learning. The research explored a cross-institutional change project, which was supported and enabled by an agile and matrix-led working environment. The Transformation Academy…

In this paper, I argue that researcher reflexivity, a common qualitative practice, is a specific tool that institutional research professionals endeavoring to conduct qualitative research studies involving Students of Color can use to unpack issues of power and privilege that exist between the researcher and the researched. This may be…

The goal of this chapter is to provide a brief introduction to one of the most rigorous nonexperimental analytical methods currently employed by education researchers: regression discontinuity.

In this article, the authors discuss the utility of combining quantitative and qualitative methods in conducting intersectional analyses. First, they discuss some of the paradigmatic underpinnings of qualitative and quantitative research, and how these methods can be used in intersectional analyses. They then consider how paradigmatic pragmatism…

This article focuses on the complexity of researching institutional culture and the ethical dilemmas posed in representing staff according to race and gender, drawing on three qualitative studies undertaken at a previously white South African university between 2000 and 2007. During the research process, issues of representation became a concern…

In this article, the author discusses how researchers can use mixed-methods approaches and intersectional analyses to understand college access among first-generation Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). First, he discusses the utility of mixed-methods approaches and intersectionality research in studying college access. Then, he…

This methodological note illustrates how a commonly used calculation of the Delta-p statistic is inappropriate for categorical independent variables, and this note provides users of logistic regression with a revised calculation of the Delta-p statistic that is more meaningful when studying the differences in the predicted probability of an…

Promotion of diversity based on ethnic and racial identity of both students and faculty has become a central tenet in U.S. higher education, permeating everything from curricular development to student and faculty recruitment, and from campus infrastructural planning to articulation of an institution's strategic mission. References to diversity on…

In this article, the author argues that current strategies to study and understand students' identities fall short of fully capturing their complexity. A multi-dimensional perspective and a mixed-methods approach can reveal nuance that is missed with current approaches. The author offers an illustration of how mixed-methods research can promote a…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is going to announce a major change in its patent policies that will allow qualifying institutions to be guaranteed in advance the royalties from faculty inventions that result from NSF projects. (Author)

This analysis defines the current crisis as not unique but developing over the past 3 or 4 decades. The individual elements of the crisis, its sources, potential magnitude and consequences, are integrated into a comprehensive view of the future of higher education research sectors. (Author/PG)

Hypothesizes that, because education is a multivariant process, research attempting to test hypotheses about univariant data will find "nonsignificant" results; several nonsignificant variables may cumulatively or in combination have a significant effect; and many "nonsignificant" findings result from inadequate research design and data analysis.…

Of 460 two-year colleges responding to a national survey in 1973-74, 63 percent reported some kind of institutional research, but only 15 percent reported that their colleges routinely based important decisions on the results of this research. The most popular areas of research were students, student services, and institutional operations. Other…

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH IN THE JUNIOR COLLEGES IS A RECENT DEVELOPMENT AND UNTIL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE FOR JUNIOR COLLEGE INFORMATION, NO EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DISSEMINATING THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH HAS BEEN AVAILABLE. CERTAIN GAPS EXIST IN TYPES OF RESEARCH, PROBLEMS STUDIED, AND FOCUS--(1) STUDIES OF STUDENTS COMMONLY…

The author feels that everyone who is engaged in research for purposes of public debate and enlightenment is entitled to protection from government coercion. (Author/PG)