1. Meet Institutional Research: A Review of Resources and Services Provided by IRR
Susannah Livingood
Associate Provost & Director, IRR
University of Oklahoma, Norman

2. Core Function
IRR is responsible for ensuring that official data about OU are available and reliable as needed to meet regulatory requirements and support institutional decision-making.

3. Official Data Areas IRR creates and stores official data on:
Student enrollment and demographics
Degrees granted
Credit hours
Retention and graduation
Faculty and staff headcounts
Peer salaries

4. Available and Reliable
Monitoring data quality
Tracking changes to reporting definitions and business rules
Advocating for effective data access tools
Keeping up with national norms and data discussions

5. Regulatory Requirements
Federal and state mandatory reporting
Higher Learning Commission
Program accreditation
Data governance, especially related to privacy and ethical use concerns

6. Evolving Role of IR in Higher Education
Used to be gatekeepers – for fewer gates
Increasingly integrated technology means data are available to more end-users, but support and documentation have not kept pace with access
IR is changing to more of a coaching role

7. Decision Support Promoting institutional data literacy:
well-described information
consistent definitions and methodology
appropriate source for the use – official or operational?
Providing historical context
Benchmarking against peer institutions

8. Official or Operational?
Operational Data
Also known as the ODS or Cognos or the Book
Is (usually) no more than 24 hours old
Is a copy of the transactional system
Use whenever current status is important, such as advising, course scheduling, etc.

9. Official or Operational?
Official Data
Is frozen, sometimes referred to as a “snapshot”
May differ from operational system due to timing, corrections
Is set up for reporting using standardized definitions based on national norms and federal/state requirements

10. Official or Operational?
Official Data
Available from IRR
Used whenever reporting to the outside world and when trend analyses are needed

11. More about Official Reporting Data
We store frozen (aka “snapshot”) data
Each snapshot is more generally referred to in our reports as a census
It is a saved copy of data as of a single point in time, taken according to a predetermined schedule

12. Census Dates Official Reporting Date (ORD)
Student data: after the add/drop period has ended; in fall/spring it is the first working day after three full weeks of classes, summer is more complicated so ORD comes later at more like the 8th or 9th week; sometimes referred to as “3rd week”
HR data: the first working day on or after November 1st (after October payroll)

13. Census Dates End-of-Semester (EOS)
After all classes have ended and all grades have been submitted – significant because Law gets 30 days to submit their grades, so there can be quite a lag between classes ending and the EOS snapshot
Only applicable to student data

14. So How Do I Know What to Use?
Will the data (potentially) be seen by deans/provost/other administrators?
Will the data be shared with external agencies, such as program accreditors or media (especially the student newspaper)?
Is it trend data?
If the answer to any of these is yes,
either use official data from IRR or
check your methodology with IRR.

15. IRR Website: irr.ou.edu Data Center – standard reports on: Fact Book
Enrollment
Credit hours
Retention and graduation
Degrees
Fact Book

16. IRR Website Reporting Definitions, Glossary and FAQ
Degree Program Inventory
Accreditation resources

17. Minerva Reporting Portal
minerva.ou.edu
Interactive, filterable reports
Access available on request to all faculty and staff
IRR welcomes suggestions for new reports or enhancements to existing reports

18. IRR Resources Email support:
Designated outreach contact: Joey Albin
General IRR
Data request form (
In-Person consultations

19. Questions?
Susannah Livingood
@ou_irr