Institutional Research

We identify, collect and provide information about the nature and quality of Hope College through the availability and analysis of data. Constituencies served are:

• Hope College faculty, staff and students to:
  • Support decision-making and planning
  • Enhance presentations, reports and proposals
  • Inform assessment activities
• Prospective Hope students and parents to:
  • Understand properties and characteristics of Hope College
  • Measure the quality of education provided by Hope
• Colleagues at other institutions to:
  • Benchmark the performance of their institution against Hope
• General public to:
  •  Understand the nature and quality of Hope College
  • Learn about Hope by providing descriptive data to publications, websites and government agencies

Mission Statement

Collect, maintain, analyze and disseminate accurate, consistent and timely data for and about the academic and operational programs of the college in support of college planning and decision-making and to support public constituencies in evaluating and monitoring the nature and quality of the institution.

Functions

Special Projects

• Conduct ad hoc studies and provide information requested by administration, departments and committees on topics relevant to the college
• Assist faculty in preparing institutional data for grant proposals

Data Maintenance

• Develop, maintain and analyze institutionally relevant information in support of the college’s planning, assessment and decision-making activity

Data Reporting

• Report accurate statistical information about the college to external agencies
• Inform the college community about results of studies through regularly published reports, summaries and updates

External Data Requests

• Coordinates the college’s response to national statistical surveys, questionnaires and other non-routine requests for information

Data Presentation

• Coordinates and maintains current publications as a source of essential and official facts about the college for both internal and external constituencies

Data Integrity

• Coordinate, standardize and verify college data released to the public
• Review college publications for consistency of information

Goal Tracking

• Track the college’s performance against long-range goals and objectives

Comparative Analysis

• Participate in comparative, peer-institution studies and analyze and present results

External Representation

• Participate in relevant consortia and professional organizations on behalf of the college

Trend Analysis

• Devise a system whereby changes and trends may be tracked and anticipated

Benefits

1. Provide full support for strategic planning
2. Provide data in a timely and effective manner in support of decision making, cost containment, college marketing, assessment and obtaining outside funding
3. Enhance the usefulness of data through effective presentation
4. Enable institutional data to be analyzed across administrative areas
5. Eliminate duplication of effort in data collection, analysis and reporting
6. Provide data in a timely and effective manner to make sure that the college receives full benefit from data consortia such as HEDS and IPEDS