Quantitative meta-analysis is a very useful, yet underutilized, technique for synthesizing research findings in higher education. Meta-analytic inquiry can be more challenging in higher education than in other fields of study as a result of (a) concerns about the use of regression coefficients as a metric for comparing the magnitude of effects…

This paper demonstrates a formal statistical test that can be used to help researchers make decisions about alternative statistical model specifications. This test is commonly used by researchers who would like to test whether adding new variables to a model improves the model fit. However, we demonstrate that this formal test can also be employed…

The authors argue for the inclusion of students' subjective sense of belonging in an integrated model of student persistence (Cabrera et al., J Higher Educ 64:123-139, 1993). The effects of sense of belonging and a simple intervention designed to increase sense of belonging are tested in the context of this model. The intervention increased sense…

Presents a merit pay allocation model based on the principle of awarding comparable percentage salary increases to college/university faculty members with similar merit ratings. The model enables users to calculate merit pay amounts for individual faculty members in a systematic and efficient manner and can incorporate various policy directives…

Empirical analysis requires researchers to choose which variables to use as controls in their models. Theory should dictate this choice, yet often in social science there are several theories that may suggest the inclusion or exclusion of certain variables as controls. The result of this is that researchers may use different variables in their…

Describes application of a faculty salary model at Portland State University (Oregon) in which faculty rank is endogenous to data on 351 faculty, and compares results with those obtained from a conventional specification that treats rank as exogenous. The primary consequence of endogenizing rank was to disentangle the confounding effects of rank…

Building upon earlier work by Camp, Gibbs, and Masters II, (1988). "The Journal of Higher Education" 59(6): 652-667 and Wenger and Girard, (2000). "Research in Higher Education" 41(2):195-207, we present a model for allocating funds for salary increases to faculty lines within an academic unit at a public research university. The model first…

The purpose of this paper is to build a predictive model of enrollment that provides data driven analysis to improve undergraduate recruitment efforts. We utilize an inquiry model, which examines the enrollment decisions of students that have made contact with our institution, a medium sized, public, Doctoral I university. A student, who makes an…

A salary-growth model is described that includes the nature of the salary dependence on experience for various levels of performance of faculty members in a subset having the same level of education and the same marketability of their specialities. (Author/MLW)

A simplified example of a technique, conceived by Yates and later developed by Goodman and Haberman, for the determination of appropriate log-models in the measurement of qualitative data in higher education is presented. (Author/MLW)

The concept of paradigm development, it is suggested, can explain differences in organizational contexts of university departments. Departments from high-paradigm fields are embedded in a context with clearly identifiable and distinguishable dimensions. (Author/MLW)

Two aspects of the administrator evaluation process--internal institutional politics and quality--as a dimension of both the evaluation process itself and the performance of administrators are discussed. A case study of administrator evaluation at the University of Toledo is described. (Author/MLW)

Presents three mathematical models for the evolution over time of the proportion of minorities in an academic department or similarly selected group of constant size. Analyzes both the steady-state and time-dependent behavior of the proportion of minorities and suggests a method of evaluating the fairness of a department's hiring history.…

A model is described that allows for assessment of alternative funding formulas for postsecondary education systems. Emphasis is on the extent to which marginal funding proposals can offer a viable alternative to traditional linear enrollment driven formulas. The model operates at a statewide level but may be useful at other levels. (MSE)

An important part of the analysis of the expected effects of institutional closure is estimation of redistribution of students attending the closed school. How coefficient estimates from models of enrollment demand can be used to predict the alternative attendance choices of students enrolled at the closed school is discussed. (Author/MLW)