Ask eAIR

Dear eAIR: What are the emerging trends and best practices for collecting information on gender identity and sexual orientation? First and foremost, trends and best practices should be considered in the context of your c...

What are the best ways to engage faculty in IR projects? This question often starts good conversations that don’t always have clear answers. Of course, the answers differ among institutions and across the breadt...

In light of the changes and disruptions throughout 2020, what do you anticipate the future of IR to look like?  There is no doubt that we have frequently heard people using superlatives to describe...

Organizational and institutional commitments to ethical action are indispensable at a time when our larger societal commitment to values-based action appears to be in the throes of a volatile period of fractiousness and ...

Dear Suzanne: How can we better educate our IR offices on diversity, equity, and inclusion? This is a very important and timely topic. When thinking about this question for our institutional research colleagues, I decid...

Dear Nic: How can we effectively use data to develop nimble plans that help us move forward through a crisis, such as a pandemic? This is a good question and really important right now, as we face the effects of COVID-19...

Dear Sonia: My IR director wants us to create a data management system that can house a data lake. What is a data lake and how can we accomplish this? For institutional research and chief data officers (CDOs), one of th...

Dear Felice: How can I become an ‘information activist’ or ‘storyteller’ in support of my institution’s move to increase data-informed decision making? I am so glad you are seeing an increas...

Dear Erin: With the changing role of IR, how do we as IR professionals move from data providers to data storytellers? I think the thing to keep in mind is that the role of IR is not necessarily changing, but rather it&rs...

Dear Suzanne: What is IR's role in expanding the data culture on campus in regard to engaging campus users and supporting a culture of data inquiry, while building the sustainability and capacity of IR? Data analytics ar...

Dear Mary Ann: I have been asked to run weekly meetings with other units on how we’re using data and analytics to improve student programs. How can I run effective meetings with various stakeholders in the room, s...

Dear Meihua: At my institution we are focusing more on student success as it relates to curriculum. I have heard about a “synergetic combo” and a “toxic combo.” Can you define those terms and disc...

Dear Mike: I am working as a faculty member and part-time IR practitioner at a small, private liberal arts college. Our board of directors has determined that we need an actual IR department and I am tasked with developi...

Dear Ron: We are implementing efforts to better push self-service data to our users. Do you have tips or advice on how they might use the data to inform decision making? I’m glad you asked! That is a question that ...

Dear Nancy: I heard that you changed who at an institution will receive NSLVE reports and that IR directors are now one of three report recipients. Can you tell me about the history of NSLVE, which institutions participa...

Dear Timothy: In my office we have recently been discussing how analytics is changing IR. Some see it as getting too much into the weeds and one coworker said it felt like we were "telling people what to do." ...

Dear Bill: I’ve noticed that leaders on many campuses perceive IR as being “too busy” to conduct the kinds of studies needed to understand the effectiveness of certain programs. Others might just percei...

Dear Deborah: I’ve just been promoted to a middle management position. I want to solidify my relationship with my director as well as my subordinates. Can you share some strategies for managing up? First off, cong...

Dear Suzanne: Why should we pay attention to graduate student retention and graduation rates? When considering how to answer this question, I looked at two overall questions: First, how do institutions handle graduate st...

Ask eAIR invites questions from AIR members about the work of institutional research, careers in the field, and other broad topics that resonate with a large cross-section of readers. If you are interested in writing an ...