This chapter leverages STEM-focused Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) data to investigate the consequences of chilly institutional climates across institutional types, with particular attention to implications for institutions and researchers. Further, we synthesize the literature, findings, and recommendations across the volume and…

Framed by Terenzini's revision of his classic "On the nature of institutional research" article, this chapter offers concluding thoughts on the way in which technical/analytical, issues, and contextual types of awarenesses appeared across chapters in this volume. Moreover, it outlines how each chapter demonstrated how qualitative inquiry…

This chapter provides a conceptual model that academic leaders can use to navigate the complex, and often contentious, organizational terrain of academic program development. The model includes concepts related to the institution's external environment, as well as internal organizational structures, cultures, and politics. Drawing from the…

A supportive campus culture is critical to institutionalizing civic engagement and instilling the principles of active citizenship. This chapter explores a model that quantitatively measures the impact of the campus environment on civic engagement outcomes.

Many authors (Kezar, 2005; Duke, 2002; Keeling, Underhile, and Wall, 2007; Matier, Sidle, and Hurst, 1994) propose a new model of higher education organizations or a style of decision making whose central component is collaboration. This key characteristic helps make full use of all of the institution's resources to increase the likelihood that it…

Although institutional researchers devote a great deal of time mining and using student data to fulfill mandatory federal and state reports and analyze institutional effectiveness, financial and personnel information is also necessary for such endeavors. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges that arise from extracting data from…

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)

College faculty live and work in four cultures: that of the academic profession, the discipline, the academy as an organization, and the institution type. Each of these influences how they function in the organization. Colleges should recognize and build on the sometimes conflicting cultures. (Author/MSE)

Without feasible integration strategies, the institutional researcher and decision maker remain isolated from each other, to the ultimate disadvantage of the higher education institution. Practical and achievable strategies for the researcher include knowledge of the institutional climate and norms, developing communication skills, and practicing…

Understanding the climate and culture of the campus is essential to improving organizational effectiveness. Institutional researchers will be influenced increasingly by research in this area, by improving their awareness, defining important dimensions of the institutional culture, establishing benchmarks for future reference, actively undertaking…

To effectively communicate agendas and goals, new college presidents need to acquire cultural perspective on their institutions, seeing the campus as a lived experience, interpreting its themes, and deciphering its shared meanings and symbolic processes. This allows him to experience the continuity of the institution and become part of it.…

Organizational barriers to information use vary with types of decisions and the phases of information collection, analysis, and communication. Strategies suitable for one environment will not always work in others. (Author/MSE)

To implement Total Quality Management concepts successfully, colleges and universities must change their cultures significantly. In higher education, with its organizational characteristics and traditions, authority relationships between faculty and administrators must be recognized, and some changes in the role and attention of leaders must…

Sustainability is an evolving and often misused word in business. As the landscape changes in terms of how resources are evaluated, so does the context of sustainability. In the most general terms, Ben & Jerry's looks at sustainability from the perspective of the social and environmental resources. Improper use of the term has been called…

Institutional research that examines the influence of organizational and administrative factors on student learning may be critical in improving educational performance. The role that institutional researchers might play in reducing semantic confusion and enhancing understanding of how colleges and universities improve student learning is…