A community of data hounds: The importance of research in higher education

Working on the E-expectations research project is one of the very best parts of my work at Noel-Levitz. The data we collect keeps me and my team in touch with our clients and their markets. And as is true of all good research, the questions we ask prospective students and their families always bring new questions to light. An endless loop of exploration!

But my favorite part of the project always comes after we’ve presented our findings when I get a call or an e-mail from someone who saw us at the Noel-Levitz National Conference or participated in one of the webinars put on by our partner, OmniUpdate. You ask me about question details or specific findings for a certain population or even for permission to use the data in your own scholarly pursuits.  Today I had two calls from marketing and IT folks who are taking our slide deck and presenting it to their peers on their home campuses. Both hope that their presentation will lead to additional research with their own markets and eventually a better Web site, e-mail program or new social media strategy. I hope so, too.

What we’ve created with E-expectations is more than an annual set of data to help us make decisions. When we discuss (or argue about) the findings, share our ideas for implications and come up with new questions we’re creating a community with goals focused on learning and improving our institutions. Can’t think of anything better. Can you?