Vice chancellors of public universities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region face a myriad of challenges that require research- and data-driven decision-making. This paper presents a decision-making model for college and university leadership - The Two-Way Practitioner-Researcher Loop. This scholarship of practice has the…

Establishing institutional effectiveness has beleaguered U.S. higher education institutions for thirty years. One key element of institutional effectiveness is the ability of an organization to use data for effective decision-making. This study provides new insight into this critical component of institutional effectiveness by examining the…

This article focuses on the elaboration of institutional research practice, which is an important element of any research university. The study addresses three questions. First, how did institutional research arise, and what is its raison d'etre in a research university? Second, how can institutional research contribute to the improvement of the…

This book presents the results and implications of a major new national study exploring the effects of institutional racial composition on African American students' development and their educational outcomes, taking into account individuals' background characteristics, their perceptions of the institutional environment, and their experiences in…

This monograph details the process Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) institutions used to craft data-driven action plans to improve student success. More than 100 four-year Historically Black, Hispanic-Serving, and Tribal colleges and universities participated in the five-year program that produced best practices…

Information use can be defined in many ways depending on a variety of organizational, personal, and presentational factors. The experience of evaluation researchers provides some guides for practice. (Author/MSE)

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;…

The use of the institutional research function in higher education institutions in Australia is discussed. The importance of this function for active and long-range planning and information gathering is emphasized, and the organization of the information system--centralized or decentralized--is considered. (MSE)

The ways that institutional researchers can analyze the political nature of their institutions and better understand the role institutional research plays in that environment are suggested. The major strength of an institutional research office is information and the analysis of information. (Author/MLW)

A study examined whether a patterned sequence of institutional responses to fiscal stress existed by analyzing the magnitude, sequence, and substance of decisions made by a variety of institution types. The results and their implications for planning are discussed. (MSE)

In the fall of 2004, following a series of conversations with the accreditation community on the topic of providing additional information to the public, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) contracted with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) to conduct a survey of accrediting organizations on this…

This study examined the academic, personnel, and financial dimensions of state regulation, including changes since 1983; the relationship between state regulation, various state characteristics, and level of flexibility afforded universities; and the relationship between state regulation flexibility and campus characteristics, including…

The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) database based on the American Freshmen Survey provides data for use in making marketing and management decisions in colleges and universities. This paper describes an operational cooperative model for managing and exploiting the data that CIRP makes available. The paper also offers an example…

Factors that influenced applicants' decisions to attend Tufts University, a private institution in Massachusetts, were studied based on a 1985 survey. Enrollment decisions were examined for the following groups: matriculants and nonmatriculants, liberal arts and engineering applicants, applicants from each of seven geographic regions, applicants…

Conditions that inhibit change in higher education institutions and various models of the change process are described. Attention is also directed to: organizational character, structural features, planning procedures, key individuals in the change process, and practical advice about change. The major change models for higher education…