In this study, I draw on Bahr's ("Research in Higher Education" 51:724-749, 2010; New Directions for Institutional Research S1:33-48, 2011) behavioral typology of first-time community college students to examine college-level variation in students' patterns of use of 105 community colleges in California. I find that students' patterns of use vary…

In reconsidering the three "tiers of institutional intelligence" needed for effective institutional research practice he first offered 20 years ago (Terenzini in "Res Higher Educ" 34:1-10, 1993), Terenzini suggests that those forms of intelligence retain their overall relevance today, but that they also require some important redefinition. The…

Armed with a strong toolkit of knowledge and skills, institutional research (IR) professionals often serve as collaborators with campus colleagues who may need assistance with survey design, statistical analysis, program review, and assessment of individual programs or the institution. This paper discusses the role that an IR professional played…

The study explored the factors that relate to the likelihood of institutional researchers (IRs) to plan to leave their jobs. Learning more about the effects on IR job turnover can serve to improve the employment experience of IR practitioners, the profession of IR, and, indirectly, higher education. 1,264 IRs responded to a national survey…

This methodological note illustrates how a commonly used calculation of the Delta-p statistic is inappropriate for categorical independent variables, and this note provides users of logistic regression with a revised calculation of the Delta-p statistic that is more meaningful when studying the differences in the predicted probability of an…

Studying factors that predict bachelor's degree attainment has generated considerable empirical interest over the past few decades. Relatively few studies, however, have focused on community college transfer students and the unique factors that predict their educational outcomes. Utilizing the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and…

Using multi-institutional data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) annual survey of entering freshmen, the Higher Education Research Institute's (HERI) Faculty Surveys, campus registrars' offices, and IPEDS data, we evaluated the extent to which peer institutional retention climates and faculty perceived campus climates…

Variables that address student enrollment patterns (e.g., persistence, enrollment inconsistency, completed credit hours, course credit load, course completion rate, procrastination) constitute a longstanding fixture of analytical strategies in educational research, particularly research that focuses on explaining variation in academic outcomes.…

In most multi-campus studies of college impact that have been conducted over the past four decades, investigators have relied on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression as the analytic method of choice. Recently, however, some investigators have advocated the use of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), a method specifically designed for analyses…

This article focuses upon programs for undergraduate women in science and engineering, which are a strategic research site in the study of gender, science, and higher education. The design involves both quantitative and qualitative approaches, linking theory, method, questions, and analyses in ways not undertaken previously. Using a comprehensive,…

The purpose of this study is to explore key factors that impact the college transition of aspiring underrepresented minority students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, in comparison with White, Asian students and non-science minority students. We examined successful management of the academic environment and sense of belonging during the…

This study examines the variables that are the most strongly associated with institutional prestige and reputation and presents an exploratory model. This research expands earlier efforts by including more recent data on larger populations of public and private universities, as well as on liberal arts colleges. The analysis draws upon data from…

While many studies have examined nonresponse in student surveys, little research investigates why some schools achieve higher student survey response rates than other schools. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we analyze survey data from 321 institutions that participated in the 2003 National Survey of Student Engagement to understand how…

The Carnegie classification system has served as a framework for research on colleges and universities for more than 30 years. Today, the system's developers are exploring criteria that more effectively differentiate among institutions. One approach being considered is classifying institutions based on students' educational experiences. This study…

Most institutional studies of science have focused on the functioning of its reward system. Less is known about perspectives scientists develop on their variously rewarded and recognized careers. This study examines people's subjective appraisals of attainment in academic science based on a sample of interviews with physicists who discussed their…