In the summer of 2006, several major news outlets gave prominent coverage to a sociological study with a grim message: Americans' social isolation had increased radically since the 1980s. Whereas in 1985, Americans reported that, on average, they had 2.94 friends or family members with whom they discussed important matters, by 2004 that number had…

The last time Virginia Commonwealth University had to prepare for an accreditation review, the school's officials found themselves overwhelmed with data. The university's accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, was asking for more information than ever before about how much students were learning: grades, test scores, written…

This article describes the result of a recent report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which has raised the hackles of some college officials who charge that the data are incomplete and that the NCAA has clouded the real fiscal value of sports programs. The study revealed the growing financial support colleges provide to…

This article reports that several colleges and universities like Purdue University are mining data they have about students to try to improve retention. The institutions analyze years' worth of data on which students did well and which did poorly, and what variables--whether they be SAT scores, financial-aid status, or attendance at the dining…