Benchmarking has traditionally been viewed as a way to compare data only; however, its utilisation as a more investigative, research-informed process to add rigor to decision-making processes at the institutional level is gaining momentum in the higher education sector. Indeed, with recent changes in the Australian quality environment from the…

Integrating institutional research, outcomes assessment, program review, strategic planning, and accreditation can be a powerful means of creating a culture of evidence-based decision making and continuous improvement. This study examined how this "integrated" model is organized in practice, how such offices began, why this approach was chosen,…

Existing research demonstrates a strong relationship between the prevalence of irregular enrollment patterns among community college students and their low rates of degree attainment (Adelman 2006; Bahr 2009; Berkner et al. 2000; Goldrick-Rab 2004, 2007; Horn and Nevill 2006). However, very little is known about the features and processes that…

The compilation of cross-institutional comparative information to support a college or university's goals is an effective yet politically dangerous venue of institutional research activity. Selecting a group of institutions for comparison can often be a major task involving external governing agencies, key institutional administrators, and…

Possible future developments in artificial intelligence (AI) as well as its limitations are considered that have implications for institutional research in higher education, and especially decision making and decision support systems. It is noted that computer software programs have been developed that store knowledge and mimic the decision-making…

Characteristics of a decision support system (DSS) and factors that influence system design are described, along with a decision support database at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Reasons that the institutional research office is in a unique position to support decision-making are identified. A review of the literature of DSS briefly covers…

Examined is the utility of evaluation research as a framework for converting raw data into a form that is useful to the decisionmaker. The origins and purposes of evaluation research and the relationship between the evaluator and decisionmaker are examined, and some of the major issues in evaluation research methodology are reviewed. The role of…

One of the continuing concerns of those involved in institutional planning is that results somehow be linked to decision making processes. An important way to link these activities is through the timely provision of relevant information. The purpose of this paper is to identify several types of information that have been generated as part of…

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…

This study examined relationships between institutional culture, decision making approaches, and organizational effectiveness of two-year colleges. The sample included 639 full-time faculty members or full-time administrators at 30 public two-year colleges stratified for size. The causal model estimated for this study used K. S. Cameron's (1978;…

This paper presents a comprehensive case analysis of formal environmental scanning processes in three different institutions of higher education. The study focuses on how environmental scanning activities are organized and used to support institutional planning and decision-making. Special emphasis is placed on describing how environmental…

The wide variety of management approaches (zero-based budgeting, decision support systems, etc.) that have emerged in recent decades are reviewed. The questions of whether strategic management is simply another fad, and whether it can work in colleges and universities, are discussed. The development of strategic management is traced, both in…

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…

Recent trends indicate the increasing concern regarding the broad issue of accountability at institutions of higher education. Because of this, colleges and universities are being forced more and more to base their decisions on hard fact instead of intuition. The institutional research function is instrumental in assisting in this kind of data…

This study aimed to provide systematic empirical evidence for how postsecondary institutions support and promote the use of assessment information in academic decision making. A survey instrument, Institutional Support for Student Assessment, was developed as an inventory of external influences on student assessment; institutional approaches to…