The state-of-the-art in 10 areas of institutional research is considered in this collection of 10 articles. Of concern are: student attrition and retention, academic program evaluation, financial issues and economic impacts of higher education, institutional self-study and regional accreditation, peer studies of institutions, statistical packages and spreadsheets, and the institutional factbook. Titles and authors are as follows: "Principles of Longitudinal Enrollment Analysis: Conducting Retention and Student Flow Studies" (Peter T. Ewell); "Studying Student Attrition and Retention" (Patrick T. Terenzini); "Designing and Conducting Needs Assessment Studies" (Mary Katherine Wilders); "Program Evaluation in Higher Education" (Richard F. Wilson); "Budgeting and Financial Planning" (Stefan D. Bloomfield); "Economic Impact Studies" (Mary K. Kinnick, R. Dan Walleri); "Institutional Research Support of the Self Study" (Richard D. Howard, James O. Nichols, Larry W. Gracie); "Peer Institutional Studies/Institutional Comparisons" (Deborah J. Teeter, Paul T. Brinkman); "The Institutional Factbook: Key to Perception of Institutional Research and Information Dissemination on the Campus" (J. Nichols, R. Howard, Bobby H. Sharp); and "Using Statistical Packages/Spreadsheets" (Bernard D. Yancey, Maryann S. Ruddock). (SW)