In this chapter, we review the strengths of NCES survey data, provide an example of analyzing NCES survey data to explore the pathways between coursework in career and technical education in high school and postsecondary success, and offer suggestions for future data collection.

The federal government has collected data from colleges and universities for more than a century. However, how and what data are collected has evolved over time, as has the purposes for collecting those data. The most systematic collection of data happens through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which is required to be…

The increasing volume of information and the intense pace of its circulation are changing the ways universities access, use, analyze, and provide data. Many have championed the use of large-scale databases to track student admissions and retention, faculty productivity, student wellness, and other phenomena that shape our understandings of higher…

In June 2019, Minnesota State set a critical goal: By 2030, eliminate the educational equity gaps at each of the 30 colleges and 7 universities that comprise the system. To achieve the goal of Equity 2030, and empower actors at every level of Minnesota State, system and campus leaders need to fully embrace data democratization. Without access to…

We discuss methods that can improve response rates in large-scale cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Regardless of the specific study topic, sample member population, or method of contact, data collections should be designed with certain core principles in mind: legitimizing the study to prospective participants; presenting study…

Evidence-based decision-making requires access to good and reliable data. In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase of data available to institutions, from internal as well as external sources. With this increase in data and its analytics, new challenges and questions arise. One of the most pertinent of which is the ethics and best…

This chapter discusses issues and challenges encountered in using large-scale data sets to study educational experiences and subsequent outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. In this chapter, we argue that the linguistic and cultural diversity of Native peoples, coupled with the legal and political ways in which education…

This chapter provides examples of innovative methods and tools to collect, analyze, and report both quantitative and qualitative data in student affairs assessment.

Efforts to develop common higher education data standards are expanding both within and across countries. The institutional research (IR) community plays a critical role in assuring that these efforts capture the diverse manifestations of the postsecondary and tertiary education systems and promote responsible comparisons. This chapter provides…

Guided by the missions and visions, higher education institutions utilize benchmarking processes to identify better and more efficient ways to carry out their operations. Aside from the initial planning and organization steps involved in benchmarking, a matching or selection step is crucial for identifying other institutions that have good…

There is a steady line of research to understand faculty diversity and its impact on the work life quality of faculty and learning outcomes of students in the U.S. higher education systems. What makes this volume unique is that, rather than treating diversity as a static and simplistic concept, the chapter authors presented information to show…

Institutional researchers might know more about non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty than leaders on many college campuses, particularly four-year institutions and research universities (Cross and Goldenberg, 2009). As such, institutional researchers play an important role in educating campus leaders about this growing segment of the academic workforce.…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) for the State of Florida. The Division of Florida Colleges has a long history of providing reports that contain information on issues of interest to both the individual members of the system and the public. Fact books have been produced by the office for…

Assessment research is at its best when it packages research results and data so that they can be digested by multiple audiences. Too many assessment researchers spend all their efforts planning and executing the research project with little attention to closing the loop at the end. If assessment findings are not communicated effectively, the…

Institutional researchers are responsible for the collection, organization, analysis, and maintenance of large amounts of personally identifiable data on students, faculty, and staff. Not only are institutional research (IR) offices required to report these data to state and federal agencies, they are also responsible for providing information to…