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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?