+

Salmon in the River Thames

The case for good Institutional Research

Healthy signs• Reflective

• Self-improving

• Learn from experience

• Democratic

• Listen to the students

• Forward-looking

• Knowledge-based policy-making

Good research vs Bad research

• Validity

• Reliability

• Objectivity

• Appropriate samples

• Correct use of statistics

• Justifiable interpretation

Karl Marx and IR

'the philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it.'

However “good” it is…

• It will be criticized

• Some will defend it

• Some will attack it

• Many will misrepresent it

• Many more will ignore it

• Everybody is a social scientist or has met somebody in a pub who said..

Research-based policy making

• An example: Radio vs audio-cassette

• Usually not simple

• Research just one input

• Vested interests

• Research findings complex

• Cost

• Unforeseen knock-on effects

Good IR is:

• Technically good

• Aimed at improvement by changing things for the better –or stopping them change for the worse

• Is taken into account when policies are being made, courses revised, websites designed, etc

What is “improvement”?

• It teaches better

• It costs less

• It reduces drop-out

• It widens participation

• It increases staff morale

• It helps the institution achieve its “mission”

Doing it right

• 1. Get where the action is

• 2. Negotiate the research needed

• 3. Deliver it on time

• 4.And in a digestible manner

1. Get where the action is

• Integration and collaboration

• Committees

• Course teams

• Service agreements

• Unit Plans

• Reputation and time

2. Negotiate the research needed

• Is it the right question?

• Do we know the answer already?

• Are there alternative approaches?

• Can anything be changed?

• Can you deliver within reasonable time and money constraints?

3. Deliver it on time

“A one page memo on time has more impact than a 3 volume research report delivered after the vital decisions have been made”

Confucius

4. And in a digestible manner

• Senior managers are very busy

• Detailed appendices and the intricacies of factor analysis are really for other researchers

• Use pictures

• Report face-to-face

• KISS

Three case studies of “Good” IR

• The Courses Survey

• The BA in Childhood Studies

• Knowledge and awareness

A personal agenda

• Respond

• Alert

• Provoke

Constraints

• Funding

• Personal contracts

• Roles of other units

CRIDAL’S “Vision”

* to emphasize and support excellence in research and research training; * to pursue high quality scholarship and research activities; * to nurture open and free dialogue of ideas in intellectual inquiry; * to provide leadership in research and scholarly activities responsive to communal and regional needs; * to be a leader in the Asia-Pacific region in research in Distance Education, Adult Education and Open Learning.

The future?

• Mechanize?

• Mainstream?

• More?

• Mutate?

….the grit in the oyster?

Or in danger like the Pink Dolphin?