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Admissions Research Consortium Releases Report: New Evidence on Recent Changes in College Applications, Admissions, and Enrollments
The Admissions Research Consortium (ARC) aims to help colleges understand how the impacts of the pandemic are shaping their incoming classes, and how these impacts might continue to affect college performance outcomes in...Read Moreabout: Admissions Research Consortium Releases Report: New Evidence on Recent Changes in College Applications, Admissions, and Enrollments -
Farewell, So Long
Dear AIR Colleagues, By the time you read this, the changing of the guard will have taken place, and I must bid you farewell as AIR President. Orientation, training, a couple dozen board meetings, opportunities to engage...Read Moreabout: Farewell, So Long -
CUPA-HR 2022 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey: Initial Results
New research from CUPA-HR shows that higher education institutions are in the midst of a talent crisis, as many staff, professionals and administrators are considering other employment opportunities due to dissatisfactio...Read Moreabout: CUPA-HR 2022 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey: Initial Results -
New Webpage and Blog Posts Provide Overview of Measuring Student Success in IPEDS
NCES has recently published a webpage providing information on the similarities and differences between the three IPEDS surveys components primarily focused on measuring student success: Graduation Rates (GR), Graduation...Read Moreabout: New Webpage and Blog Posts Provide Overview of Measuring Student Success in IPEDS -
NCES Launches Annual Condition of Education Report
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published the 2022 Condition of Education, which contains key indicators on all levels of education, labor force outcomes, and international comparisons. Dow...Read Moreabout: NCES Launches Annual Condition of Education Report -
In Memoriam: Alexander Astin
The AIR community mourns the loss of Alexander Astin, who was a pioneer of student experience research and theories and professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies. He passed away May 18 ...Read Moreabout: In Memoriam: Alexander Astin -
Building Higher Education Comparison Groups: A Data Science Informed Approach
Distance measures are an important component of many techniques found used throughout data science. Distance measures are any measure that can help us quantify the distance between two points in any given coordinate syst...Read Moreabout: Building Higher Education Comparison Groups: A Data Science Informed Approach -
Why Good Intentions Aren’t Enough to Use Data Ethically
Significant ethical scandals are thankfully rare in institutional research and effectiveness (IR/IE). Every few years brings a case of an institution that has deliberately falsified data, usually data for external survey...Read Moreabout: Why Good Intentions Aren’t Enough to Use Data Ethically -
Let’s Prioritize Democratic Civility
Amid the election for our new AIR leaders, I think it is important as you contemplate who to vote for to reflect on the purpose of your vote. I fundamentally believe the leaders we choose are an image of our hope fo...Read Moreabout: Let’s Prioritize Democratic Civility -
The Importance of Class Size: An Interview with Mark Umbricht
AIR talked to Mark Umbricht, Director of Data Analysis and Research at University of North Carolina System, to chat about how his 2018 AIR Forum session was referenced in Ron Lieber’s book, The Price You ...Read Moreabout: The Importance of Class Size: An Interview with Mark Umbricht -
Calling All IR Professionals: Your Institution Has Until December 17 to Gain Access to Free Benchmarking
Institutional Research (IR) professionals intimately understand that good data can facilitate smart decisions. That truth applies to the field of IR, too. The National Survey of IR Offices is the premier source of ...Read Moreabout: Calling All IR Professionals: Your Institution Has Until December 17 to Gain Access to Free Benchmarking -
Latest Charles F. Elton Best Papers Award Recipients Announced
Congratulations to the latest recipients of the Charles F. Elton Best Paper Award: Qingmin Shi, John R. Crooker, Christina Drum, and Brent M. Drake, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Their paper, “Investigation of t...Read Moreabout: Latest Charles F. Elton Best Papers Award Recipients Announced -
Raising the Data Literate and Qualitatively Responsible
Back in fall 2006, I had barely started my career in the IR/IE field, and our oldest child was starting her first year in Governor’s School in Virginia. One of her assigned books was How to Lie with Statistics by...Read Moreabout: Raising the Data Literate and Qualitatively Responsible -
Introduction to Data Ethics
Every day, more than 2.5 exabytes (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes) of data are produced. By the end of 2025, estimates suggest that number will rise to 436 exabytes. Data is truly everywhere, and its use is expanding an...Read Moreabout: Introduction to Data Ethics -
Data Ethics Haiku
As data stewards, we are responsible for ensuring the privacy and security of information we use and share. The AIR Statement of Ethical Principles outlines the integrity of our profession. An important area of our ...Read Moreabout: Data Ethics Haiku -
Ethical Use of Data: Scenarios for Discussion
The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our students, prospective students, faculty, and staff is not yet known. Institutional research professionals can help support a better understanding of this impact by first r...Read Moreabout: Ethical Use of Data: Scenarios for Discussion -
Considerations for Ethical Use of Data During a Pandemic
The collection, analysis, and reporting of data in ethical ways has always been foundational for institutional research. Ethical research requires not only a high degree of veracity and accuracy in our work, but it als...Read Moreabout: Considerations for Ethical Use of Data During a Pandemic -
COVID-19 Brings New Reports, Ethical Challenges
When the AIR Board approved the AIR Statement of Ethical Principles in September 2019, COVID-19 wasn't a blip on anyone's radar. Those were halcyon days, when the most popular dashboards tracked student success and enr...Read Moreabout: COVID-19 Brings New Reports, Ethical Challenges -
Tips for Providing Accurate and Contextualized Information
We put a call out on the AIR Hub and Twitter for tips on making sure your work does not undermine the following of our Ethical Principles: "We provide accurate and contextualized information. We do not knowingly ...Read Moreabout: Tips for Providing Accurate and Contextualized Information -
Campus Leaders Reflect on IR, Ethics
A consistent theme in the reactions to the AIR Statement of Ethical Principles has been concern over the tension between what campus leaders want and what IR/IE practitioners see as the correct or ethical path. We ...Read Moreabout: Campus Leaders Reflect on IR, Ethics