1. MIT Institutional Research
AKA the Office of Incidental Information

2. Staff Lydia Snover, Director Jon Schwarz, Assistant Director
Sonia Liou, Assistant Director
Jon Daries, Senior Project Manager (Portland, OR)
Greg Harris, Senior Project Manager (Gainesville, FL)
Shirley Wong, Senior Project Administrator
Kate Doria, Senior Research Analyst
Michael Ferguson, Senior Research Analyst
Huey Chan, Senior Database Analyst
Abdou Seck, Database Analyst
Ayn Cavicchi, Project Manager
Benjamin Mintz, Research Analyst
Drew Bell, Research Analyst
Graduate Student Interns

3. Brief History of Institutional Research at MIT
Institutional Research Capacity added to Planning Office to assist with Physical Planning Projects with 1 FTE
Committee on Family and Work surveyed MIT population IR provides Staff Support
1990’s External Surveys completed by IR
1990’s IR begins development of VC Briefing Documents
A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT
2000 – IR became part of the Office of the Provost and relocated from Building 12 to Building 11 in 2001
Undergraduate Consortium Surveys moved from DUE to IR
Faculty Recruiting Reporting assigned to IR
Graduate Student Admissions reporting moved from Admissions to IR
Survey Service moved from IS & T to IR
Faculty Salary and tenure and promotion analysis assigned to IR
Briefing Book transferred to IR
The AAU Data Warehouse moved from IS & T to IR
2013 – IR takes on support of ABET for Engineering
Director of IR becomes Trustee of MITx Data
Qualitative Function added to IR
Brief History of Institutional Research at MIT

4. Operating Principles Collaboration Transparency Consistency Accuracy
Context
Confidentiality
Supporting all members of the community

5. What we do and who do we do it for
Collect Data
Organize Data
Analyze Data
Indirect Data Governance
Primary Client is the Academic Side of the House with focus on Department Heads

6. What we don’t do Draw conclusions
We provide analysis that will allow others (department heads, Senior Officers) committees, taskforce, etc. to decide what the data means
Instead we provide observations and statistical significance
Make Recommendations
Write Reports
IR doesn’t have a point of view

7. Collect Data People, Money and Space
MIT Data Warehouse MIT’s Systems of Record
HR, CAO, Registrar, space accounting
IR has some data from the “beginning”, WWII
Surveys
Undergraduate surveys – Consortium
Graduate
Faculty and Staff
Alumni
Others
New Qualitative Function - Interviews and Focus Groups
Web Applications
Electronic Professional Record epr.mit.edu
Outcomes.mit.edu (SOE / ABET)
Peer Schools
Federal Government
External Vendors
Academic Analytics
Ranking organizations

8. Organizing Data Excel Oracle Databases Google BigQuery ETL Processes
Tableau (Visualization/Reporting Tool)

9. Using Data Program Review – Visiting Committees Briefing Documents
MindHandHeart Reports (NEW)
Departments, Committees, Task Forces (COC working groups, Graduate Tuition Taskforce)
Government Reporting / Compliance
Department of Education
National Science Foundation
Town Gown
Consortium Data Exchanges
Ranking Organizations
HEOA Required posting

10. Providing Data to the Community MIT is committed to Transparency
Web Page – ir.mit.edu
Public data
Results of surveys
Common Data Set
Diversity Dashboard
Graduate Education Statistics
Collaboration.mit.edu
Access controlled Tableau Reports
Comparison Reports – companion tables for Profiles
Survey results at the department level
Research Expenditures
Rankings

11. Visiting Committee Briefing Documents
Department Profile – 10 years of data from MIT’s Systems of Record
Strategic Indicators – comparing to other departments at MIT and at other universities
Student Assessment and Outcomes
Special Analysis requested by Departments

13. Research Expenditures

15. Faculty Age Distribution

16. Growth in Computer Science

17. Articles published by Faculty in Physics Departments with Doctorates from MIT compared to all Faculty in Physics Departments

18. Using data from Chemical Engineering as an example, we can see that MIT PhD graduates are significantly more productive during their peak years than their peers

19. US Department of Education

20. 2016 Faculty and Staff Quality of Life Survey

21. 2018 Academic Climate Survey

22. 2018 Academic Climate Survey

23. 2018 Academic Climate Survey

24. Analyzing Data
Context

25. Peer Context

26. Trend Context

27. Context adds meaning