Abstract
Higher education is awash with data with more coming every year. Much of this is due to accountability reasons and interest from stakeholders (internal and external). New technologies have increasingly allowed more powerful analytics and deeper dives into data. But the increasing pressures and new technologies have brought significant questions on how data is used and its relevance. This chapter examines how data is used within higher education and includes an extended discussion of how it has been misused. The chapter concludes with three suggestions on how institutions can do to reduce the likelihood of the misuse of data and the role of institutional research could play in facilitating its appropriate use.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
AIR. (2017). Development of the duties & functions of institutional research. Resource document. Association for Institutional Research. http://www.airweb.org/Resources/Documents/Duties-and-Functions-Summary.pdf. Accessed 1 Apr 2017.
Alamuddin, R., Brown, J., & Kurzweil, M. (2016). Student data in the digital era: An overview of current practices. Resource document. Ithaka S+R. http://www.sr.ithaka.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SR_Report_Student_Data_Digital_Era-090616.pdf. Accessed 27 Apr 2017.
Beatty, A., Greenwood, M. R. C., & Lin, R. (1999). Myths and tradeoffs: The role of tests in undergraduate admissions. Washington, DC: The National Academies.
Beynon-Davies, P. (2011). Significance: Exploring the nature of information, systems, and technology. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Beynon-Davies, P. (2013). Business information systems (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Binette, C. (2016). Intrusion into UCF network involves personal data. Resource document. University of Central Florida – colleges & campus news. https://today.ucf.edu/intrusion-into-ucf-network-involves-personal-data/. Accessed 30 Mar 2017.
Calderon, A. (2015). In light of globalization, massification, and marketization: Some considerations on the uses of data in higher education. In K. Webber & A. Calderon (Eds.), Institutional research and planning in higher education: Global contexts and themes (pp. 288–306). Routledge Press: New York.
Calderon, A., & Mathies, C. (2013). Institutional research in the future: Challenges within higher education and the need for excellence in professional practice. New Directions for Institutional Research, 157, 77–90.
Coburn, C., & Turner, E. (2012). The practice of data use: An introduction. American Journal of Education, 118(2), 99–111.
Dahlstrom, E. (2016). Digital capabilities in higher education, 2015: Analytics. Louisville: Educause.
de Vise, D. (2012, February 27). Claremont Mckenna SAT scandal: More at stake than rankings? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/claremont-mckenna-sat-scandal-more-at-stake-than-rankings/2012/02/07/gIQAHImVwQ_blog.html?utm_term=.343e4bc2231d. Accessed 30 Mar 2017.
ETS. (2017). About the GRE general test. https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/?WT.ac=grehome_greabout_b_150213. Accessed 17 Mar 2017.
Fain, P. (2017, January 16). College scorecard screwup. Inside higher ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/16/feds-data-error-inflated-loan-repayment-rates-college-scorecard. Accessed 23 Mar 2017.
Grama, J. (2014). Data breaches in higher education. Resource document. EDUCAUSE center for analysis and research. https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ECP1402.pdf. Accessed 22 Mar 2017.
Gray, C. (2016, February 16). Senate unanimous in bill protecting student medical records. The Lund report. https://www.thelundreport.org/content/senate-unanimous-bill-protecting-student-medical-records. Accessed 12 Feb 2017.
Hazelkorn, E. (2015a). The obsession with rankings in tertiary education: Implications for public policy. Resource document. World Bank. https://hepru.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/the-obsession-with-rankings-in-tertiary-education_wb_0115.pdf. Accessed 20 Mar 2015.
Hazelkorn, E. (2015b). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hicks, D., Wouters, P., Waltman, L., de Rijcke, S., & Rafols, I. (2015). The Leiden manifesto for research metrics. Nature, 250, 429–431.
Higgins, K. (2016). Post-truth: A guide for the perplexed. Nature, 540, 9.
Horta, M., Bouwma-Gearhart, J., & Park, H. J. (2017). Data driven decision making in the era of accountability: Fostering faculty data cultures for learning. The Review of Higher Education, 40(3), 391–426.
Jaschik, S. (2012, April 18). Claremont McKenna admits extent of deception on admissions statistics. Inside higher ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/18/ claremont-mckenna-admits-extent-deception-admissions-statistics. Accessed 17 Mar 2017.
Knight, W., Moore, M., & Coperthwaite, C. (1997). Institutional research: Knowledge, skills, and perspectives of effectiveness. New Directions for Institutional Research, 104, 31–39.
Koltay, T. (2016). Data governance, data literacy, and the management of data quality. IFLA Journal, 42(4), 303–312.
Lindquist, S. (1999). A profile of institutional researchers from AIR national membership survey. New Directions for Institutional Research, 104, 41–50.
Mahaffie, L. (2017). Updated data for college scorecard and financial aid shopping sheet. Resource document. U.S. Department of Education. https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/011317UpdatedDataForCollegeScorecardFinaidShopSheet.html. Accessed 20 Mar 2017.
Marginson, S. (2014). University rankings and social sciences. European Journal of Education, 49(1), 45–59.
McKinney, M. (2016, March 25). Data breach exposes information on more than 3000 TCC employees. Virginian-Pilot. http://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/data-breach-exposes-information-on-more-than-tcc-employees/article_6ab72a2f-52a0-533e-8060-a2d245c7f151.html. Accessed 23 Mar 2017.
McLaughlin, G., Howard, R., & Jones-White, D. (2012). Analytic approaches to creating planning and decision support information. In R. Howard, G. McLaughlin, & W. Knight (Eds.), The handbook of institutional research (pp. 459–477). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
National Association for College Admission Counseling. (2008). Report of the commission on the use of standardized tests in undergraduate admission. Arlington, VA: National Association for College Admission Counseling.
New, J. (2015, August 3). Staying confidential. Inside higher ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/03/privacy-loophole-remains-open-after-outrage-over-u-oregons-handling-therapy-records#disqus_thread. Accessed 19 Feb 2017.
Oxford University Press. (2017). Data, n. OED Online. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/296948?redirectedFrom=data#eid. Accessed 12 Mar 2017.
Patterson, L. (2015). Analytics and metrics: related but not the same. Resource document..MarketingProfs LLC. http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/27462/analytics-and-metrics-related-but-not-the-same-an-explanation-and-a-checklist. Accessed 11 March 2017.
Posselt, J. (2016). Inside graduate admissions: Merit, diversity, and faculty gatekeeping. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Possey, J., & Pitter, G. (2012). Integrating the functions of institutional research, institutional effectiveness, and information management. AIR Professional File, 126, 1–32.
Ransbotham, S., Kiron, D., and Prentice, P.K. (2015). Minding the analytics gap. Resource document. MIT Sloan management review. http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/minding-the-analytics-gap/. Accessed 22 Mar 2017.
Read, R. (2015, June 4). UO whistleblowers: giving student’s confidential therapy records to campus lawyers felt wrong. The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/06/uo_whistleblowers_giving_stude.html. Accessed 27 February 2017.
Robinson-Garcia, N., & Calero-Medina, C. (2014). What do university rankings by fields rank? Exploring discrepancies between the organizational structure of universities and bibliometric classifications. Scientometrics, 98(3), 1955–1970.
Ronco, S., Archer, S., & Ryan, P. (2012). Tools for measuring the effectiveness of institutional research. In R. Howard, G. McLaughlin, & W. Knight (Eds.), The handbook of institutional research (pp. 673–687). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Spillane, J. (2012). Data in practice: Conceptualizing the data-based decision-making phenomena. American journal of education., 118(2), 113–141.
Sposito, S. (2016, February 27). UC Berkeley system with data on students, workers, and alumni hacked. San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/UC-Berkeley-system-with-data-on-students-6857364.php. Accessed 15 March 2017.
Strauss, V. (2012, August 23). Elite university lies to college rankers for years. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/does-it-matter-that-an-elite-university-lied-to-college-rankers-for-years/2012/08/22/e89b39d2-ec68-11e1-aca7-272630dfd152_blog.html?utm_term=.48cabcd2a554. Accessed 17 March 2017.
Swing, R., & Ross, L. E. (2016). A new vision for institutional research. Change, 48(2), 6–13.
Swing, R., Jones, D., & Ross, L. E. (2016). The AIR national survey of institutional research offices. Resource document. Association for Institutional Research. https://www.airweb.org/Resources/ImprovingAndTransformingPostsecondaryEducation/Documents/National-Survey-of-IR-Offices-Report.pdf. Accessed Apr 2 2017.
Taylor, J., Hanlon, M., & Yorke, M. (2013). The evolution and practice of institutional research. New Directions for Institutional Research, (157), 59–75.
Teichler, U. (2011). Social consequences of university rankings: A meta-analysis of the ranking literature. In J. C. Shin, R. Toutkoushian, & U. Teichler (Eds.), University rankings: Theoretical basis, methodology and impacts on global higher education (pp. 55–69). Dordrecht: Springer.
Terenzini, P. (1993). On the nature of institutional research and the knowledge and skills it requires. Research in Higher Education, 34(1), 1–10.
Terenzini, P. (2013). “On the nature of institutional research” revisited: “Plus ca change …”? Research in Higher Education, 54, 137–148.
U.S Department of Education (2015). Resource document. FERPA. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html?src=rn. Accessed 11 Feb 2017.
Visser, H., & Barnes, G. (2016). Professional development for institutional research. In J. Botha & N. Muller (Eds.), Institutional research in South African higher education (pp. 75–96). Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
Volkwein, J. F. (1990). The diversity of institutional research structures and tasks. New Directions for Institutional Research, 17(2), 7–26.
Volkwein, J.F. (2011). Gaining ground: the role of institutional research in assessing student outcomes and demonstrating institutional effectiveness (occasional paper 11). Resource document. National institute for learning outcomes assessment. http://www.learningoutcomeassessment.org/documents/Volkwein.pdf. Accessed 3 April 2017.
Whitehurst, G.J. & Chingos, M. (2015, October 15). Deconstructing the reconstructing the College Scorecard. Evidence Speaks Reports. https://www.brookings.edu/research/deconstructing-and-reconstructing-the-college-scorecard/.Accessed 14 April 2017.
Wightman, L. (2003). Standardized testing and equal access: A tutorial. In M. Chang, D. Witt, J. Jones, & K. Hakuta (Eds.), A compelling interest: Examining the evidence on racial dynamics in colleges and universities (pp. 49–96). Stanford, CA: Stanford University press.
Young, A., & McConkey, K. (2012). Data governance and data quality: Is it on your agenda? Journal of Institutional Research, 17(1), 69–77.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mathies, C. (2018). Uses and Misuses of Data. In: Webber, K. (eds) Building Capacity in Institutional Research and Decision Support in Higher Education . Knowledge Studies in Higher Education, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71162-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71162-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71161-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71162-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)