Training institutional research (IR) professionals in the use of statistics is a complex and challenging task. It is complicated by the need to develop a functional model of institutional research that includes its various roles. In addition, the specific statistical and analytical tools used to perform necessary tasks must be better understood. This is important due to the need for IR professionals to teach others to use and interpret statistical results. IR professionals have tended to use basic tools and have limited statistical sophistication. The specific tools or statistical methodologies that are important in IR should differ based on the situation of the individual and the academic background of the audience and should not be limited by lack of training in statistics. The work done by Terenzini (1993) further indicates that IR professionals need to broaden their approach to research by operating within three types of intelligence.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education