Institutional Research

Institutional Research

Institutional research (IR) is any qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodology research activity undertaken in a college, university, hospital, or other institutional setting that produces data, information, or knowledge in support of the institution’s efforts to measure the effectiveness of its mission, goals, and objectives.

Instructional Research was conceived during the 1950s as a mechanism for centralizing and facilitating the compilation, analysis, and reporting of data regarding an individual college or university, and since that time Instructional Research has also been adopted by companies and organizations outside the world of education.

Instructional Research is conducted in a collaborative manner similar to action research where the members of the Instructional Research office will work with their colleagues from across the organization in planning research and assessment activities and in the actual collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.

As practiced within the context of institutional effectiveness, Instructional Research personnel help their peers (a) to identify mission-critical policies, programs, personnel, and performances to assess; (b) to collect, analyze, and interpret relevant data; and (c) to use the results of the analysis to improve or enhance the institution.

 

Institutional Review and Qualitative Research

Qualitative research methodologies and methods are used in IR to provide useful insights regarding perspectives of board members, personnel, customers, and other stakeholders critical to institutions and to give context to the numbers. Qualitative research is useful when measuring complex phenomena such as leadership and brand and when gaining insights into diverse academic cultures.

Qualitative methodologies can also help to bring both the researchers and the decision makers closer to the research participants, and through this greater proximity can come thicker and richer descriptions, interpretations, explanations, and understandings of stakeholder expectations and needs.