Institutional research is more relevant today than ever before as growing pressures for improved student learning and increased institutional accountability motivate higher education to effectively use ever-expanding data and information resources. As the most current and comprehensive volume on the topic, the Handbook describes the fundamental knowledge, techniques, and strategies that define institutional research. The book contains an overview of the profession and its history, examines how institutional research supports executive and academic leadership and governance, and discusses the varied ways data from federal, state, and campus sources are used by research professionals. With contributions from leading experts in the field, this important resource reviews the analytic tools, techniques, and methodologies used by institutional researchers in their professional practice and covers a wide range of topics such as: conducting institutional research; statistical applications; comparative analyses; quality control systems; measuring student, faculty, and staff opinions; and management activities designed to improve organizational effectiveness.

Be the Change your Institution Needs What are leaders in research saying about Data Science in Higher Education? "Where has this book been all these years? This is THE starting point for researchers looking for a leg up in today's college environment. Two parts discussion, one part methodology, and one part witty humor. I love it!" "Buy this book for your analysts. They and your college will thank you." "This is the only book on data science specific for higher education research that covers both theory and practice. I'm not a programmer at all, and I found this book very enjoyable. You wont regret it -- I know I don't!" "When our department was tasked with coming up with a predictive 'machine-learning' model, we hired Jesse to help us. His charisma and knowledge are unmatched, and this book only helps to breathe fresh life into issues in research today that are all too often swept under the rug." Discover the tools to take your institution to the next level! Data Science in higher education is the process of turning raw institutional data into actionable intelligence. With this introduction to foundational topics in machine learning and predictive analytics, ambitious leaders in research can develop and employ sophisticated predictive models to better inform their institution's decision-making process. You don't need an advanced degree in math or statistics to do data science. With the open-source statistical programming language R, you'll learn how to tackle real-life institutional data challenges (with actual institutional data!) by going step-by-step through different case studies. Topics include: Simple, Multiple, & Logistic Regression Techniques, and Naive Bayes Classifiers Best Practices for Data Scientists in Higher Education Narrative-style stories, gotchas, and insights from actual data science jobs at colleges and universities "Forget the textbooks. This is a book on data science written for institutional researchers *by* an institutional researcher. You need this book."------------------------------------------ Data Science is the art of carefully picking through that pile of book pages and putting together a complete book. It's the art of developing a narrative for your data, so that all the raw information that your institution warehouses and reports in bar charts and histograms is replaced with actionable intelligence. Here's what we know: Data science can and should be an integral part of college and university operations. Institutional effectiveness should be working side-by-side with faculty and educators to collect, clean, and mine through data of current and past students' behaviors in order to better empower counseling and advisement services (whether virtual or otherwise). Data itself should be considered an asset to an institution, and the data mining process a necessary function of institutional operations. So how do we do it? It starts with a solid perspective and great research tools. With Data Science in Higher Education you'll learn about and solve real-world institutional problems with open-source tools and machine learning research techniques. Using R, you'll tackle case studies from real colleges and develop predictive analytical solutions to problems that colleges and universities face to this day.

American higher education faces a challenging environment. Decreasing state appropriations, rising costs, and tightening budgets have left American colleges and universities scrambling to achieve their missions with ever more limited resources. Campus leaders have therefore increasingly relied upon institutional research and strategic planning departments to make transparent and rational decisions and to promote good stewardship of critical but finite resources. Institutional Research Initiatives in Higher Education illustrates the wealth of institutional research activities occurring in American higher education. Featuring chapters by a prominent mix of authors representing community colleges, traditional undergraduate institutions, land grant institutions, research and flagship universities, and state agencies, this book provides numerous insights into the contemporary challenges, innovative programs, and best practices in institutional research. With contributors from a variety of regions and types of institutions, each chapter provides rigorous analysis of campus-based research activities in areas such as strategic planning, admissions and enrollment management, assessment and compliance, and financial planning and budgeting. Like the departments it studies, Institutional Research Initiatives in Higher Education is an invaluable resource for university administrators, researchers, and policymakers alike.

American higher education faces a challenging environment. Decreasing state appropriations, rising costs, and tightening budgets have left American colleges and universities scrambling to achieve their missions with ever more limited resources. Campus leaders have therefore increasingly relied upon institutional research and strategic planning departments to make transparent and rational decisions and to promote good stewardship of critical but finite resources. Institutional Research Initiatives in Higher Education illustrates the wealth of institutional research activities occurring in American higher education. Featuring chapters by a prominent mix of authors representing community colleges, traditional undergraduate institutions, land grant institutions, research and flagship universities, and state agencies, this book provides numerous insights into the contemporary challenges, innovative programs, and best practices in institutional research. With contributors from a variety of regions and types of institutions, each chapter provides rigorous analysis of campus-based research activities in areas such as strategic planning, admissions and enrollment management, assessment and compliance, and financial planning and budgeting. Like the departments it studies, Institutional Research Initiatives in Higher Education is an invaluable resource for university administrators, researchers, and policymakers alike.