InstitutionAl Research Thoughts about the future Paula S. Krist, Ph.D. University of San Diego

A Accountability federal government state accreditors Institutional Research offices will be increasingly involved in accountability efforts. It will be supplying data, of course, but more that that. Accountability should include more than the production of data; it should focus on the USE of data, especially the use of data to provide information that students and prospective students care about. My hope is that IR professionals will be brought into national discussions about meaningful data for accountability efforts.

B Best Practices better data benchmarking better use of data Best practices will include improvements in data accuracy, benchmarking not just by comparing our institution to peer institutions, but also benchmarking across other IR offices to understand effective operations and practices, and improved use of data as information. I think we will be conducting more actual institutional research. We will be using our data increasingly to answer the important questions at our institutions and to be responsive to the questions that students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community have.

C Collaboration colleagues consortia common goals Collaboration with other areas of the university is important now and will continue to grow in importance. IR data can only be used if people are aware of it and understand what it means. If members of the institutional community have questions that we can use our data to answer, we can be responsive. Collaborate with faculty who are developing grant proposals. Share information with as many groups as you can – deans, department chairs, faculty forums, student affairs groups, student forums. I mentioned conducting more actual institutional research at our institutions. At USD we have a current collaboration with all academic programs, career development and alumni affairs to provide seamless surveys at specific intervals. Career development provides a summary of survey results to recent graduates to provide them a snapshot of what members of their graduating class are doing.

D Dissemination digging into data directly answering student-focused questions data informed decision-making Dissemination can take several forms. If you use any national surveys or tests, see if you can get the data and tie it to student record level data. Then, try to answer the questions that your colleagues in academic and student affairs have. Of course, part of dissemination is increasing institutional awareness of what we have done and what we can do. Timing the release of reports to provide information when institutional constituents are most able to care about the information is critical. AIR predicts that the Chief Data Officer will become a cabinet level position. (It is a shame that Chief Institutional Officer is already used by the actual data officer.)