Documents as Data Sources


You may find what you are looking for in records maintained by faculty, departments,
or the college such as records of student work; teacher assignments; or grades and assessments.

Most institutions have an institutional research office, research and planning office, or other office that collects data for the college’s internal use and for use in reports to
external groups. The types of data that institutions typically gather include:

  • student outcomes, such as transfers, course completions, grade distribution, perisistence in continuing their education, and degrees and certificates awarded
  • student demographics, such as gender, age, and ethnicity
  • enrollment trends for the college, programs, and courses
  • survey results, such as student satisfaction surveys, exit surveys, and graduate
    follow-up surveys
  • employee demographics
  • census data on the community
  • accreditation of programs

Institutions also provide required data to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) at the National Center for Education Statistics. Tools on the IPEDS website allow for making comparisons between your institution and a comparison
group of institutions.

 
   
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