Bin Ning, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President & Executive Director Overall Structure, Current Foci, & Future Directions of Institutional Research in the U.S. Bin Ning, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President & Executive Director Ann Arbor· November 2017

About the Presentation The presentation is adapted based on my keynote speech in June 2017 at Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

About Eastern Michigan University One of the 15 public universities in Michigan 2,000 full-time employees, including 800 full-time faculty Offers from bachelor’s to doctorate degrees in 5 colleges (AS, BUS, ED, HHS, TECH) Carnegie classified in 2015 as National University (R3) Enrolls between 20,500 and 23,000 students during a typical fall term Annual budget US$340 million

Overview of the Presentation Overall Structure Current Foci Trends and Future Directions Challenges

Overall Structure of IR

About an IR Office Almost all universities and colleges in the U.S. have an IR office Number of staff FTEs varies between 1 to 15+ An IR office at a university with 15k-20k students typically has 5-8 staff FTEs 70% of IR offices report to the Office of Provost Head of the office is typically at Director/Executive Director/AVP level, as the importance of the office has elevated in recent decades Has an independent budget that covers staff salaries, software purchasing, conference travel, and daily office supplies Note: FTE = Full-time Equivalent

An Example: IR Office at EMU (7 FTE)

Distribution of Staff FTE & Responsibilities Leadership, outreach, planning, office management… – 1 FTE Federal/state/agency mandated reporting – 0.5 FTE Other external non-mandatory reporting responsibilities—0.5 to 1 FTE Ad hoc data analysis and requests—1.5 FTE Survey administration and analysis –0.5 FTE Database management and web applications development –1.5 to 2 FTE Secretarial support –0.5 to 1 FTE

Desired Technical Expertise for IR Professionals Expert who is knowledgeable about common issues, policies, challenges, and trends of higher education Understanding about assessment, evaluation, and accreditation practices and processes Data analyst with good/strong statistical background, predictive modeling Database expert who knows enterprise data structure and data warehousing processes Interactive web application (BI tool) developer Reporting analyst who are adept in using SQL language

Data Management Processes

Data Analysis and Application Development

Current Foci

Primary Areas of Our Work Decision and policy support Support recruitment and student success Improve institutional effectiveness Improve academic quality and research activities Student Surveys Accreditation support Extensive reporting responsibilities Improve data integrity

Decision & Policy Support Strategic planning—Plan-Do-Measure-Improve Resource prioritization—How to allocate resources based on data-informed facts Policy development—Development of certain academic policies are based on IR research data (e.g., special support programs, honors college, living learning community) Predictive modeling—Enrollment and revenue predictions

Support Student Recruitment & Success Market analysis—Where and how to focus recruitment efforts Retention and completion—Many federal and state policies are linked to retention and completion Satisfaction and engagement—Surveys provide timely feedback Student experience—Data analysis related to student experience within and beyond classrooms

An Example (Market Analysis) http://irim.emich.edu/gis/index.php?folder=map&file=map

An Example (Recruiting & Registration) Daily Enrollment Update http://irim.emich.edu/em-updates

Improve Institutional Effectiveness Develop KPIs Instructional productivity Dashboard http://irim.emich.edu/dashboard

Improve Academic Quality Program review and evaluation Assessment of student learning Research grant applications Improve student experience

An Example Academic Decision Support Tool http://irim.emich.edu/adst

Student Surveys NSSE Graduating Senior Survey New Graduates Employment Status Survey Other ad hoc surveys

Accreditation Support Institutional Accreditation Required annual updates and 4th/10th year review Outcome-based criteria and measures Trends Specialized Accreditation Required annual updates and comprehensive review Program-based outcomes and standards Learning outcomes Job placement data

An Example Provide automated annual update to program accreditations https://irim.emich.edu/data_accred.php

Other Areas of Foci Reporting—Government mandate and other agencies Database management Data audit

Trends and Future Directions

Overall Trends of IR More important in the organizational structure of an institution Transformation from traditional “data cruncher” to “think tank” Assume greater and broader responsibilities More challenges in data definition, standards, and legal issues

Business Intelligence (BI) Tools Machine learning Data mining Predictive modeling Big data Automation of reporting processes

Data Visualization Highly interactive web-based applications Sankey Chart Tableau http://tableau.emich.edu

Use of Student Behavior Data Data from LMS Frequency of course sign-in Submission and individual grade of each homework Interactions with course instructors Tutorial services

Research Agenda Promote research agenda of IR Focus on specific issues Student success Policy research Program prioritization

Example: Research Primer

Challenges

Shortage of Skilled IR Professionals Brain Drain Lack of highly skilled and well-trained IR candidates Some IR certification/degree programs are offered in several universities; yet the help is limited

Data Related Challenges Data complexity and integrity Data availability Customization of reports Data analysis and interpretation of findings Legal challenges

Challenge of Student Surveys Low response rate What students actually think Validity and reliability of surveys

Contact Dr. Bin Ning Assistant Vice President & Executive Director Office of Institutional Research & Information Management 401E Pierce Hall, Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA bning@emich.edu http://irim.emich.edu