A pilot study was conducted to: examine the beliefs of Institutional Research (IR) managers and senior administrators concerning the function, purpose and priorities of IR; determine if beliefs have been translated into practice; ascertain the extent of congruence between perceptions and beliefs held at each level of management; and examine whether the beliefs of IR managers and current practices are consistent with what senior administrators believe should be the role of IR. Using a population of university centers and arts and sciences institutions in large, multi-campus, state-supported systems, 33 surveys were administered, 17 to IR managers (100% response rate) and 16 to senior administrators (64.7% response rate). Results included the following: (1) only 26.7% of IR managers and 54.5% of senior administrators believe that general institutional expectations are realistic and clear; (2) only 37.6% of IR managers and 72.7% of senior administrators believe that faculty members possess a positive perception of IR; (3) both groups believe that IR functions should include data collection, analysis and dissemination; state and federal reporting, policy-oriented research, serving as a clearinghouse for data, defining the institutional database and projecting enrollment; and (4) 100% of senior administrators and 73.3% of the IR managers believe that IR should measure outcomes. Data are provided in four tables. Contains 10 references. (KM)