The history of institutional research is examined with specific reference to its promotion and organization during the last twenty-five years. It is suggested that institutional research now has all the elements necessary for its continuation and has become an established part of higher education. (Author/SF)

The author suggests that education researchers and supporters of research should be more modest about the potential of such research for solving all the problems of schools, colleges, and students. Priorities should include improving the quality of research, effecting demonstrably useful changes, and optimizing communication with policy makers.…

In an attempt to analyze systematically where power is and why it accumulates where it does, this study identifies how a voluntary consortium in higher education perceives the power systems in the institutional hierarchy. (MB)

Suggests that targeted, action-oriented institutional research can help a college or university better understand and more effectively use faculty resources. Profiles a multi-campus research university whose institutional research portfolio has emphasized faculty issues. (EV)

Discusses institutional research (IR) in higher education, which is designed to generate information that serves planning, policy development, resource allocation, and management or evaluation decisions in all functional areas. Addresses its history, the skills and training needed by researchers, structure and staffing, and professional…

Describes a study of the duties being performed by institutional researchers in Southern 2-year colleges, revealing that less than half of the 301 colleges that responded to the survey employed an institutional researcher on at least a half-time basis and that many researchers expressed dissatisfaction with their job responsibilities. (DMM)

Examines attempts to solve interdepartmental problems innovatively in a postsecondary educational institution. Finds that cooperative (rather than competitive or independent) goals, and open and skillful communication are important elements in the successful communication of diverse perspectives, fostering innovation in an organization. (SR)

Before communicating any information, institutional researchers should answer four diagnostic questions: Who's asking? What for? What's the proper medium? What happens next? (MSE)

Discusses the role of follow-up studies in tracking student progress. Underscores the importance of gathering data about student intentions, and using the data in analyzing follow-up findings. (DMM)

Striving for a standardized alumni research terminology should parallel future research efforts in such areas as measurement of donor potential, modeling alumni giving patterns, and examination of involvement in alumni activities. A taxonomy and a strategy for achieving standardization are described. (MLW)

A different perspective of the institutional research field was obtained from a content analysis of the employment classified advertising published in the "Chronicle of Higher Education." Using this technique, it was possible to compare and contrast institutional research with the profile of the field obtained from the content analysis.…

Academic administrators are beginning to ask sophisticated questions about the effects of student aid on their institutions. The importance of the research has drawn attention from many sources, and suggests that collaboration between institutional researchers and financial aid officers has great promise. (Author/MSE)

The structure and process of college institutional research is compared with three different ways in which science is conceptualized. It is concluded that, although institutional research has much in common with science, it is distinct because the dynamic nature of institutional research prevents development of a cohesive body of knowledge.…

A member of the Association for Institutional Research's Committee on Standards and Ethics Research reflects on the recently drafted code of ethics for the profession and suggests means to support practitioners and gain acceptance for the code. It is concluded that sanctions are not practical at present. (Author/MSE)

Finds that senior staff at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC, were consistently positive in their evaluation of bibliotherapy as a modality. Discusses the kinds of patients that benefit the most and the least from bibliotherapy. (RS)