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Pushing Data: Institutional
Researchers as Workshop Facilitators
Morgan Blair, Wasiq Ali, Allison Campbell
Medicine Hat College

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Overview
 Our Role As Data Pushers
 Theoretical Approaches
 Institutional Context
 Workshop Design
 Outcomes
 Future Directions

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Pushing Data
Information
Authority
Policy
Analyst
Spin
Doctor
Scholar /
Researcher
Knowledge
Manager
Adapted from Volkwein (2008)
Five
Faces
of IR

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Pushing Data
How do we effectively push data?
 Be strategic: connect data to institutional goals, match
project to people who care, multiple mediums
 Don’t just wait for opportunities, create them
 Build value and create need
Adapted from Leimer (2011)

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Theoretical Approaches
• Mentor, colleagueLiberal
• Hierarchical, directivesBehaviorist
• Collectivism, problem solvingProgressive
• Individualism, self-directednessHumanistic
• Change agent, pusherRadical
Adapted from Mulcrone, 1993

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Institutional Context
 Community college with ~2,500 FLE
 Young IR office
 Data distributed in flat reports
 Data was nice to have, but…

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The Flat Line
Number of Hits to Intranet Page Prior to Change in Approach
-1
0
1
NumberofHits

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Stealth Radicalism
 View stakeholders in dichotomies
 Pushing for a cultural changes
 Fostering a culture of data-driven decision making
 Discouraging decisions based on “gut feeling”
 Social and political change
 Critical investigation

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Impetus for Change
“…value transparent, consistent, and integrated use of
information in decision making.”
“Our aim is to transform from a standard institutional
research office to one of the most trusted, innovative,
and influential advisory groups on campus.”

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Impetus for Change
Operationalizing a change towards evidence-based decision
making using stealth radical approach:
 Dashboards
 Senior management involvement
 Workshops

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Workshops
Workshops are designed to:
 Enhance evidence-based decision making at all levels
 Increase participant comfort with the use of data and dashboards

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Workshop Design
1. Introduction of meeting topic
2. Overview of dashboard
3. Engagement exercise: Facts on the Fly
4. Delivery of the problem to be solved
5. Break into working groups with
dashboards
6. Group Discussion
7. Document Outcomes

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Workshop Examples
 SEM Goal Setting
 Retention strategy development
 Academic Advisors
 Recruiters
 International Education
 Program Review
 Budget Process

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Workshop Outcomes
Participants:
 Gain increased comfort with complex data
 Gain increased sense of ownership of data, decisions and
outcomes
 Develop self-sufficiency in accessing data
 Seed change

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Workshop Outcomes
“Walking us through the process was great, doing
it in person is always better, and now I feel more
knowledgeable about data.”
“It was surprising to see how much we had
accomplished in such a short time.”

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The Resuscitation
Number of Hits to Intranet Page Since Change in Approach
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
NumberofHits

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The Resuscitation
Number of Hits to Online Institutional Quick Facts
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
NumberofHits

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Workshop Outcomes
Advancement of Mandate:
 Insight: how non-data people process data
 Where their interest exists
 Increase departmental profile

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Workshop Outcomes
“We know where to go to get data, and we can
collaborate on our data needs.”
“As we study the data, Strategic Research &
Analysis will guide us on how to dig deeper and
find more information to meet our needs.”

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Future Approach
Radical Progressive Humanistic

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Conclusions
 Radical approach is effective
 Be strategic, tailor approach
 Create opportunity and need
 Benefits to internal stakeholders and IR department
 Adjust approach as institution matures