The Lazy Person’s Guide to Institutional Research

1. The Lazy Person’s Guide to Institutional Research I wish someone would have shown me this sooner!

2. Lazy Person’s Guide • Premise • Many of us “fell” into institutional research • We come with different backgrounds and different skills • We learn things as we grow in the job • However, we are sometimes afraid to share what we’ve learn for fear of being exposed as inadequate • My Need • I need to learn how to do things more efficiently • (but I don’t want to work too hard or think too much)

3. Solution • Bite the bullet and share what we know at the risk of showing our ignorance • Remember, we are all gentle people here • (The worse you should hear is “bless his heart”) • Who knows? I might be smarter than I think • (or not) • After I reveal my discoveries, then it will be your turn

4. OK  I’ll Start • Make Your Life Easier ─ Discover the Wonders of Copy and Paste • My rule  try copying and pasting first • Example: PREP Queryhttp://www.thecb.state.tx.us/InteractiveTools/PREP/menu.htm Go to next screen before clicking on link

5. PREP1 Query Results [ Downloadable Results ][ Change Parameters ][ Start new Query ][ Return to Menu ] Sample Prep Query result [ Downloadable Results ][ Change Parameters ][ Start new Query ][ Return to Menu ] To download the delimited data for this query, click [Downloadable Results] above and save the resulting file to your local machine. keep going

6. *Gonzo Computer Application • You could download the information • To download the delimited data for this query, click [Downloadable Results] above and save the resulting file to your local machine. * Gonzo computing is doing what it takes to get the job done. (not necessarily the “correct” way) keep going

7. But they don’t tell what to do with the file. In my case it meant • opening the file • selecting all • copying • pasting into excel • and converting using “text to columns” • Or, you could highlight the table on the website then copy and paste directly into an Excel file Now you can Click on the button to check out Prep On-line or go to next slide

8. Copy tables from program to program (internet, word, publisher, etc.) If you can’t copy straight to the program you want, try copying from program to program to program (Adobe to MS Word to Excel) Copy web addresses to word or excel http://www.texas-air.org/ (copy, paste, and space) Other uses of Copy and Paste

9. Lazy Person’s Mantra: Let Someone Else Do Your Work For You But give them credit • THECB (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board) • Texas Higher Education Data • http://www.txhighereddata.org/ • Accountability System • http://www.txhighereddata.org/Interactive/Accountability/ • Prep Online • Institutional Effectiveness • http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/AAR/UndergraduateEd/IE/ • CDR and TWC (Career Development Resources and Texas Workforce commission) • Socrates http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us/ • (don’t click on Socrates until you see the 3 next slides) • Tracer http://www.tracer2.com/

10. SOCRATES software is designed as a tool to assist local Texas planners perform a regional labor market analysis. SOCRATES is useful for local workforce planning under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to generate lists of Targeted Industries and Targeted Occupations: Complimentary labor market analysis tools are also available in the SOCRATES system which are designed as integral modules for additional area economic analysis and career information scenarios: IGNORE THIS Check this out

11. 13 pages of “copy and paste-able” information courtesy of CDR and Socrates County Narrative Profile Bell County Report What are County Narrative Profiles? The Career Development Resources (CDR) unit of the Texas Workforce Commission has developed the County Narrative Profile (CNP) as a tool for presenting Texas county based statistical data in an easy-to-read narrative format. This CNP module is one of many analytical tools available from the SOCRATES labor market information system. The narrative approach is an alternative to looking through stacks of tables and charts which can be confusing and difficult to understand or interpret. It allows the user to easily request an easy to understand report on one or more of the 254 counties in Texas. Geography Regional Information: The Bell County region (FIPS code:48027) had an estimated population of 237,974 in 2000. The region consists of 1,088 square miles with a population density of 218.73 residents per square mile compared to a statewide density of 79.54. This county ranked 19th in 2000 population compared to all 254 counties in Texas. Bell County is a member of TWC's Central Texas Local Workforce Development region. This area is an urban county and is part of the Bureau of Census designation for a Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA or MSA) by the complete reference of: Killeen-Temple, TX MSA .

12. A sample customized occupational profile from Socrates Now you can play on Socrates or go to the next slide.

13. Other Websites That Make You Look Brilliant • My Favorites • American FactFinder http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en • Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographerhttp://txsdc.utsa.edu/

14. Some People Excel at Excel Learn these tools • Text to columns • Used to put CBM reports into Excel • To convert CBM Report to Excel you need a copy of the flat file from your reporting officer and the data processing layout record from the reporting and procedures manual. http://www.txhighereddata.org/ReportingManuals.cfm Before I discovered this, I felt like Blanche Dubois. I often depended on the kindness of strangers. And by strangers I don’t mean people I didn’t know, but rather the IT department.

15. Excellent tools to learn • Filter and advanced filter • Numerous applications including finding unique records (find filter under Data) • Concatenate • Combines the content of cells • Quick formulas and writing formulas •  ▼ • SUM • AVERAGE • COUNT • MAX • Write you own formulas just like in algebra • e.g. =(D3+D4)/D4 • * is the multiplication sign

16. Page Setup and Templates • Repeating top row • Find under file/page setup/sheet • Custom header and footer • Creating a custom template with a common header and footer helps you keep track of documents that originated from your office. If you include &[Path]&[File] (the folder icon), you will know where to find it on your computer when someone sends it back for an update. • Ask someone to explain Split and Freeze Frame under Window. It’s great for browsing data in an excel spreadsheet

17. More Excel Sleight of Hand • Auto fill • e.g. numbers, dates, days of the week • Paste Special • values, links, formats • Keystrokes • e.g. Insert date Ctrl + ; Insert time Ctrl +Shift + ; • We won’t even talk about Pivot Tables • (see Joe Meyers)

18. Other tricks • MS Word • Exploit auto correct • Works like AutoText – only quicker • Format text, highlight, open AutoCorrect options, and name carefully (nonsense words) • Type in your nonsense word hit the space bar and watch the magic

19. Deleted: season Now is the winter of our discontent • Track Changes • Find under tools • Turn it on when you want to keep track of changes made to documents • To hide the marks. Turn off Markup under view

20. More tips • Pesky surveys: U.S. News, Peterson's, College Board, etc.  • First, deadlines are negotiable, just call them--the earlier the better. • Second, even if all the requested fields aren't filled in, send in the survey. Get your college name out there. • Third, several of the survey publishers use old material if they do not get new material. Send them something.

21. SPSS? This hint was suggested by someone who understands SPSS. I don’t. • If running a frequency or table for a field that has multiple possible values and not all values are used then the table will show only the used values.  (see Table 1) • If you want all possible values/response options to show up in the table this is one way to do it. • You must create a new dummy variable.  For Each case, code that dummy variable with a “1.”  Then you create some dummy cases and code the dummy variable with  “.001”.  For the dummy cases, code the fields with the unused values.  Then you must weight cases by the dummy field.  (See second table) All possible values show up even though no cases appear to have selected that value (Strongly Disagree).

22. Table 1 Without the hint

23. Table 2 With the hint

24. Lazy Person’s Guide TAIR 2006 Jimmy D. Roberts Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Research, and Planning Temple College 2600 South First Street Temple TX 76504 jdr@templejc.edu Keep on sharing