Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (OPAIR), is the central University-wide institutional research office and provides the following resources.
- Data Digest
- Summaries of University data, IPEDS data, with some drill down and filtering
- Community Survey
- 2020 University-wide climate survey and report
- Projects, Dashboards, and Reports
- We Earn (alumni outcomes), Peer Comparisons, and more
- Penn State Data Summit
- An annual professional development event for Penn State staff and faculty to learn more about institutional research activities, from both internal and external sources.
- 2022 Data Summit: Traversing a Universe of Data
- Institutional Data Repository (IDR), under development
- intended to facilitate combining and analyzing data from multiple Penn State sources
- will allow users to add their own data to analyses and provide tools for advanced analytics work
iTwo is the current University-wide business intelligence and reporting tool for student and HR data
- Contains dashboards generally accessible to all Penn State users, but if access request needed, there’s link under the “Helpful Links” box on the Welcome page
- Features advanced analysis capabilities that require training before access granted
- Created and maintained by both the LionPath Development and Maintenance Organization (LDMO) and OPAIR
- Includes content areas from Dean’s, Commonwealth Campuses, Graduate School, Admissions, Student Enrollment and Instruction, and HR
- iTwo currently planned for retirement in 2024 to be replaced by dashboards using Power BI, the new central tool for data analysis and reporting, that will be connected to the new IDR that is under development.
Student Affairs Research and Assessment
- PULSE surveys
- Short, focused surveys, e.g. Arts; Sustainability; Drinking; Diversity and Inclusion)
- Student Experience Survey (Formerly Student Satisfaction Survey)
- Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey
- Alcohol Assessment
- Educational Programming Record (EPR) Reports
- Project Cahir Survey
- Feedback from students used to better understand the climate and needs of Penn State students, as well as inform decisions in developing and providing resources/services to help our University Park campus community.
Other Resources
In addition to the central resources, many units employ their own institutional research staff and maintain their own reporting sites. Contact Andrew with questions about specific data needs.
The following external resources are also available. Contact Andrew Watters to discuss data from these sources; they are limited-access resources and Andrew can generate the needed reports.
- Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Powered by Publics Participation
- VSA Voluntary System for Accountability
- Allows for peer comparison reporting on student-related metrics
- Special projects in the Big Ten cluster, e.g. DFW rates
- American Talent Initiative (ATI) (2018 to 2020)
- Data submission and peer reports related to student family income and enrollment/graduation metrics
- Data on community college transfers, veterans, but no peer reports
Resources last updated, March 2022
Compiled by Andrew Watters, February 2022