Graduate Research Associate The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, United States
Session Abstract: Institutional researchers play a crucial but often overlooked role in promoting the success of critical grant-funded research. While scholarly research may be a separate “wish list” item on top of intensive practitioner-focused projects that monopolize most IR offices’ resources, we emphasize the important connection between the two strands of research and the unique position of IR professionals to propel scholarly research with strategic partnerships. A flourishing partnership between researchers and participating colleges' IR offices benefits the college and the broader field of education research. With this poster presentation, we illustrate this possibility with examples of research and evaluation projects from two- and four-year colleges where IR offices play a crucial role in their success. We address the challenges of bridging external and internal research demands and offer practical suggestions for how IR offices can advocate for these high-value projects without adding excessive burden.
Keywords: data sharing, program evaluation, multi-institution research, strategic partnerships, data requests
