Santa Rosa Junior College - Prioritizing Research Requests

Prioritizing Research Requests

The Institutional Research Advisory Group will recommend to the Superintendent/President priorities for research projects, with four exceptions. These four exceptions, where the Director and staff of OIR will prioritize research, are in the areas of mandated research (since it must be completed), research that supports institutional planning, research that is funded by grant or categorical programs, and relatively minor research requests (requiring less than 6-8 hours of OIR time). Please refer to the table below.

Type of Research:	Examples:	Group Responsible for Prioritization:
Institutional Planning Information	· Fact Book	OIR
Federal or State Mandated	· IPEDS · Assessment Validation · Equity in Athletics · ARCC report	OIR
Grant or Categorical Support with funding for OIR	· Basic Skills Initiative · Noncredit and Credit Matriculation	OIR in collaboration with Grant or Categorical Program Administrators
Campus or Department Project	· Transfer Center Survey · Nursing evaluations to support BRN accreditation · Department Chair, Counselor Evaluations	IRAG
Individual Faculty/Staff Project (requiring more than 6-8 hours of OIR time)	· Departmental LAP projects · Staff Development Survey	IRAG
Individual Faculty/Staff Project (requiring less than 6-8 hours of OIR time)	· Academic Senate Requests · Assistance with DataMining	OIR

Criteria for Prioritizing Research Requests

Factors that impact the prioritization process:

Will the research inform and/or support the colleges planning process?
Is the research required by state or federal mandate?
Will the research support the colleges research agenda, as formulated by the Institutional Research Advisory Group?
How will the research impact current practices?
Is there any fiscal impact (costs or potential revenues) involved with the research?

Mandated research is the top priority, followed by research that links directly with the institution's planning process and that supports the district's mission and the College Initiatives. This includes program review, master planning, accreditation self study, etc. The lowest priority goes to ad hoc requests that do not directly fulfill the overall institutional research agenda.

Office of Institutional Research Contact: kgreaney@santarosa.edu