National Survey Data Bite

Successful IR/IE offices require sufficient hardware, software, space, and staff to operate efficiently. So, what percentage of offices have these resources? We asked office leaders to assess the adequacy of office resou...

Institutional data capacity is largely dependent on the IR Office. And the amount of information that an IR Office can produce is strongly tied to the size of that office. So, what drives the size of the IR Office? In sh...

One of the foundational principles of our work in data and analytics is the ethical use of data. In the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we asked Office Leaders to evaluate the statement, “Staff adhere to st...

Data literacy is the ability to read, work with, analyze, and communicate with data*. As data and analytics professionals, we depend on our stakeholders to have the necessary data literacy skills to consume and use the ...

Higher education changes quickly so professional development is critical to remain current and relevant. In the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we asked Office Leaders to identify the types of professional develo...

IR spends a significant amount of time collecting, managing, and analyzing data. But one of the most important tasks is our ability to accurately communicate that information in formats that can be consumed by our stakeh...

Data and analytics professionals like those in institutional research and institutional effectiveness produce information to support decision making. On average, 26% of time is spent on data collection and management and...

The 2018 AIR National Survey of Institutional Research Offices provided respondents with national benchmarking reporting while providing a better understanding of the national state of IR. AIR has published a series...

From the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we learned that 19% of staff time was devoted to conducting basic analytics (e.g., descriptive statistics). But what about advanced analytics (e.g., predictive analytics)?...

IR Offices and U.S. institutions comes in all sizes and types, so finding relevant benchmarking data on IR Offices can be challenging. In the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, there were 543 U.S. IR Offices who com...

How many years of relevant work experience should the leader of an IR/IE office have? From the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we learned that the average office leader has spent 18 years working in higher e...

We are often asked, "How many staff should our IR/IE office have?" In the 2018 AIR National Survey of Institutional Research Offices, we asked Office Leaders to provide the average staff FTE per type of staff role (see b...

The AIR National Survey of Institutional Research Offices is a nationally representative longitudinal study of the IR Office. This project provides data to better understand the national state of the IR/IE function ...

From the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we learned that most IR offices in U.S. postsecondary institutions report to either the President/Chief Executive Officer or the Provost/Chief Academic Officer; the remain...

Does your office software impact your work efficiency? In the 2018 AIR National Survey of IR Offices, we asked what types of software (beyond Microsoft Office) the IR/IE office used and the degree to which it improved ef...

Academic requirements of the office leader vary by the institution and the role that the office leader plays at their institution. In general, post-graduate degrees are commonplace among office leaders. We asked off...

The AIR National Survey of IR Offices collects data as part of a national benchmarking project to help leaders of IR offices compare their office operations against their peers to identify areas of needed improvement. Th...

The division that houses the IR Office can affect how that office is structured and the types of work it performs. So, in which division are most IR Offices located? Results from the 2018 National Survey of IR ...

Professional development is important to ensure that staff and leaders have the skills and knowledge needed for the ever-growing demand for data and analytics. How do office leaders rate the effectiveness of their staff...

To date, 1,153 institutions participated in the 2018 National Survey of IR Offices. In a series of webinars this fall, Darlena Jones shares summary results from the survey:  October 3 Structuring and Financing the...