Associate Director of Institutional Research and Planning Connecticut College New London, Connecticut, United States
Session Abstract: Peer groups play a crucial role in higher education by helping institutions clarify their market positions, compare activities and outcomes with similar schools, and establish goals and benchmarks for management decisions. Developing a peer group is an art as well as a science. There are many approaches to developing a peer group. We propose hierarchical cluster analysis. This statistical technique must be applied with utmost caution. It involves making numerous judgments at every step, from selecting the appropriate population and variables to identifying outliers and choosing a linkage method. Our research is practical and thorough, incorporating an extensive literature review and in-person interviews. We will walk through each step of creating the current peer group at Connecticut College. We will also discuss how an updated peer group navigates through a series of channels before it is widely accepted at an institution.
.jpg "Sanjeewa Karunaratne, L.L.M in U.S. Law, MA in Survey Research, M.P.A photo")