This chapter briefly traces the development of the concept of critical quantitative inquiry, provides an expanded conceptualization of the tasks of critical quantitative research, offers theoretical explanation and justification for critical research using quantitative methods, and previews the work of quantitative criticalists presented in this…

This chapter discusses the evolution of the critical quantitative paradigm with an emphasis on extending this approach to new populations and new methods. Along with this extension of critical quantitative work, however, come continued challenges and tensions for researchers. This chapter recaps and responds to each chapter in the volume, and…

In this chapter, the authors critically review the current state of quantitative research on college students with disabilities and examine the exclusion of this marginalized population from much of our research. They propose ways to conduct research that more fully accounts for this diverse and important college population. The authors argue that…

If quantitative criticalism is thought to be a bridge between positivist epistemologies prevalent in quantitative work and social constructionism often found in critical qualitative work, then this bridge is fraught with challenges and tensions. This chapter examines the methodological issues, questions, and tensions that emerged from a research…

This chapter discusses the utility of person-centered approaches to critical quantitative researchers. These techniques, which identify groups of individuals who share similar attributes, experiences, or outcomes, are contrasted with more commonly used variable-centered approaches. An illustrative example of a latent class analysis of the college…

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…

Statistical analysis must be approached rationally and with intent. The application of statistical analysis under the guise of the classical experimental paradigm when the underlying statistical assumptions are not met, as is often the case in institutional research, is neither efficient nor likely to produce useful results. (Author/MSE)

Summarizes characteristics of the higher education landscape and provides an overview of considerations of common interest to institutional researchers at colleges and universities serving diverse populations. (EV)

Employing a critical-empirical approach to the study of college access, the author explores the role of policy researchers in seeking educational equity. (Contains 2 tables.)

A systematic exploratory technique used primarily in the commercial sector to successfully identify market segments can be applied by an educational institution to a group of inquirers to learn more about its image and distinguish between distinct market subgroups that merit differentiated communication and program development strategies. (MSE)

The Ethical Analysis Protocol is a set of questions on treatment of participants, research practices, and sociopolitical dimensions of research that can be used to elicit information about ethical assumptions, constraints, and implications of institutional research studies. They provide a framework for ethical analysis of an institutional research…

Even the application of such mainstays of the institutional researcher's statistical tool kit as the t test and ANOVA is not always as straightforward as it seems. The researcher must first check to see that the underlying methodological and statistical assumptions are being met. (Author)

Ethnographic auditing combines concepts of ethnography, evaluation, and traditional auditing to evaluate university management. It is another tool in the institutional researcher's repertoire that enables the researcher to interpret cultural aspects of the organization to facilitate its academic mission. (MSE)

Focus group interviewing is a qualititative research technique in which a small number of respondents and a moderator have an unstructured discussion about selected subjects. As a market research technique, it could generate new insights and provide a deeper understanding of institutional image. (MSE)

Trade-off analysis, a powerful and precise research technique, can help an institution determine the direction in which it must move to change its position within the competitive market space. (MSE)