1. Samuel S. Peng SEAAIR 2019 Annual Conference in Taipei
Getting Institutional Research Rooted in Higher Education: American Experience
Samuel S. Peng
SEAAIR 2019 Annual Conference in Taipei

2. Introduction
It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be here to share my perspectives of institutional research (IR) with you.
I started my involvement in IR in early 1980’s. Over two decades, I worked closely with AIR members in designing national databases, conducting statistical analysis workshops for IR professionals, producing national reports, etc. I met numerous IR professionals, and I became a true-believer of IR.

3. The topic of this presentation
The topic of this presentation is how to get institutional research (IR) rooted in higher education in a nation.
To answer this question, I suggest the IR program in the U.S. as a good model to follow.
Specifically, I will describe the major players in IR and their specific roles and functions for this endeavor.

4. Premise: Belief in IR values and functions
Before we talk about getting IR rooted in higher education institutions,
we must have clear understanding on:
what IR is about,
what role IR can play in higher education in general, and
why IR will be a useful program in each institution.

5. What is institutional research (IR)?
I believe you all know quite well what IR is about.
Briefly stated, IR is research conducted within an institution of higher education to provide information which supports institutional planning, policy formation, and instructional and operational decision-making. Subjects of this type of research may be students, faculties, staff, and/or administrative units of an individual college, university or system.

6. What role can IR play in higher education in general?
IR was originated from institutions in the U.S. in the era of 1960s in which the higher education was expanding rapidly. Over the later years, IR gradually evolved into a program of evaluation, accountability and quality control, problem identification and solving, statistical modeling, and strategic planning.
IR has assumed a major role in an institution’s pursuing excellence and prominence in higher education.

7. Why IR will be a useful program in each institution?
IR is to perform detailed statistical analyses to deepen the understanding of issues associated with school management, operation and instructions, e.g.,
To evaluate the enrollment management, student and faculty performance, and overall program operations;
To identify or uncover root causes in grade and enrollment trends;
To evaluate the impact of student characteristics, programs or student activities on retention and graduation rates.
To assist administrators with in-depth information about the institution and its departments to improve their programs and operation.

8. Why is good to have IR program in all higher education institutions?
From national perspectives: It will facilitate the building of comprehensive national databases with standardized data collection mechanisms. The databases can be used to monitor the condition and progress of higher education in the nation, to identify critical issues, and to search answers for improvement of education.
From individual institution’s perspectives: It will help institution evaluate accountability of the institution and the quality of education offered by the institution. It also will help deans and departments clarify their questions and focus their inquiries on the key issues they wish to understand. IR can help deepen the understanding of university administrators and work with them to identify solutions and improvements for the organization..
IR office can become the information center and think-tank for the institution.

9. Has IR been firmly rooted in South East Asian higher education?
I need your help to answer this question.
Based on my limited review of literature from the Internet and my observations in Taiwan, I have an impression that not all institutions have active and effective IR functions and services in their institutions.
With this assumption, I believe the following American practices will be helpful, particularly to government officials, to help getting IR rooted in higher education.

10. What could be learnt from U.S. IR experience ?
IR started in the U.S. It began expanding in 1960’s to ensure the quality of learning in colleges and universities. Later it gradually evolved into a national program that helps higher education institutions pursue excellence and prominence.
Along the evolution process, two other organizations have contributed significantly in shaping IR into an effective national program. They are federal government and the Association of IR. They jointly worked together with institutions towards this goal. Their respective roles and actions together with related policies and regulations offer a good model for building a strong IR program in a nation. They are briefly described in the following.

11. Federal Government’s role and actions (1 of 3)
Provides leadership and serves as a pulling locomotive.
Federal government, namely, the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education provides leadership by setting the policies and legal contexts for institutions to collect data and perform IR projects, and the National Foundation of Sciences contributes grants for research and training IR professionals.
Specific actions:
Set the national standards for data contents and definition in each database, to be collected from institutions. Set reporting dates for data submissions.

12. Federal government’s role and actions (2 of 3)
Specific actions (continued)
Set the legal foundation for collecting data from all higher education institutions, requiring institutions to submit data to the government in order to monitor the progress of education in the nation and the institutions' implementations and impacts of federal programs. Types of data requested are institutional record data, including student fall enrollment, degrees conferred, revenues and expenditures, faculties and staffing.
Conduct national sample surveys, such as the First-year Student Survey, Recent College Graduates Survey, Faculty Survey.
students survey, Student Aid Survey, Graduates survey, College Transcripts and Faculty Survey.

13. Federal Government’s role and actions (3 of 3)
Specific actions (continued):
Facilitate the use of national databases. Process and release data back to the institutions. Publish reports resulting from the analyses of the collected data.
Developed online analysis system to facilitate the use of nonpublic-released data.
Provide technical trainings to IR staff and financial incentives to promote research using national databases.
Hold annual meetings to discuss policy and technical issues related to institutional data collection and dissemination.

14. Association’s role and actions
The Association for IR provides the platform for facilitating information exchanges and technical training and services to IR personnel to advance creative IR applications.
Specific activities include:
Annual conference
Seminars to provide survey and analysis technical trainings (as pressions of annual conference, regional conferences).
Help government administer research programs.
Provide resources and expert pool to assist institutions and government.
Recognize distinguished accomplishments of IR members to promote IR.
Publications of newsletters, journals and books relating to IR.
Establishing ethic rules for IR professionals for conducting research

15. Institution’s role and actions (1 of 3)
Build strong IR culture and environment
Promote clear understanding and appreciation of IR values to the institution’s administrators and faculty members.
Have an independent IR office staffed with competent professionals who could work closely with school officials and faculty members and could provide good services and produce useful products.
Use information provided by IR as a base for decision making.
IR professionals actively participate in national and regional conferences, particularly in discussion of policy and rule setting that effect IR work.

16. Institution’s role and actions (2 of 3)
2. Joining the crowd to stay competitive
Institutions’ attitude toward IR and efforts devoted to IR are critical. In some sense, they don’t have much choice if they want to stay competitive in the higher education community.
They also need to comply with government rules and regulations, particularly if they want to take financial resources provided by governments.

17. Institution’s role and actions (3 of 3)
3. Clearly define the specific missions of IR office and professionals :
Serving as the central office for assembling and disseminating institutional data:
Coordinate with other offices for compiling and submitting data required by government, i.e., the National Center for Education Statistics and state governing agency.
Collaborate with NCES in national sample surveys such as the First Year College Student Survey, Recent College Graduates Survey.
Conduct surveys to meet institution’s information needs, e.g., student learning experience survey
Coordinate and assist other school office in preparation and implementation of institutional accreditation evaluations
Generate a collection of statistics that describe the condition of institution, such as Factbook.
Conduct research to address substantive issues to find solutions and strategic planning to advance institution’s improvement and development goals.
Participate in institution’s decision-making process by providing statistical evidence.

18. Concluding remarks
In conclusion, under the leadership of governments, the cooperation and initiation of institutions, and the facilitating function of association, IR has been firmly rooted in American higher education and has become a powerful factor for achieving excellence and prominence in higher education in the U.S.. Their specific roles, functions and actions offer a good model for nations that want IR to become a routine management program in higher education.
Wish you all a great success in IR to help your institution achieving high quality of education!
Thank you, and questions and comments.