Special Features

When I hear “data and analytics culture,” I immediately think of the work Jason Simon and his team are doing at the University of North Texas (UNT). Jason Simon, Ph.D., Associate Vice President of ...

When I began working in the field of institutional research (IR) in 2010, my daily tasks consisted of completing some externally mandated reports and a few ad hoc internal requests. Today, there are daily data requests, ...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

Seven years, nine volumes, and 17 scholarly articles later, Sharron Ronco has retired from her role as editor of AIR Professional File, the association’s scholarly journal. In her volunteer role as editor, Sharro...

Abundant evidence documents that a college degree confers significant economic and non-economic value for individuals and society. Even so, there is a need to continue to improve methods and data sources to deepen analys...

Institutional researchers are experts at examining analytical patterns related to preparedness for college, access to admissions, enrollment, progress and retention, the learning experience, financial aid, gr...

In this article we will be discussing the key aspects of creating effective dashboards that convey useful information and visualizing survey results.  Communicating quantitative and qualitative data in an easily dig...

The Data Visualization Challenge at Small Institutions Higher education institutions are seeing the value more and more in their data assets. Small universities need to make data informed decisions but face the challeng...

Introduction An effective visualization of data should be relevant to its intended audience and convey meaning. Readers make choices about what they spend time viewing and they won’t spend time reviewing a graphic...

AIR is pleased to provide scholarships that facilitate the professional growth and development of institutional research professionals. The Community College Scholarship supports early-career institutional res...

Many of my career positions have required a set amount of professional development each year. However, I have generally received few guidelines on which topics or activities to prioritize. I grew tired of putting off req...