Institutional Research is a development field that has a variety of purposes and functions at different higher education institutions. Because of this, it becomes challenging to define.

According to the Association of Institutional Research (AIR) Foundations Institute:

Institutional Research is the collection, analysis and reporting of information leading to improved understanding, planning and operations of institutions of post-secondary education. Therefore the people who work in Institutional Research work with most areas of the college or university and play various roles:

To provide information

To help with accountability

To analyze policy

To be an impartial research

At Temple University, Institutional Research works with:

Planning and policy analysis such as enrollment projections, peer information, environmental scanning, and providing data to support decision making

Government reporting such as Integrated Postsecondary Education Systems (IPEDS) and the Joint State (Snyder) report.

Information management such as submitting transmittals, monitoring the accuracy of data and maintaining census files and system tables

Internal and external requests for information such as routine and ad hoc reports, US News & World Report surveys, Peterson’s surveys, etc.

Public information such as Factbook and the Common Data Set