“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” ― Carl Sagan
Support from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness
At Queens College, assessment is a systematic approach to problem-solving. The mission of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) is to provide high quality data, data analysis, and survey/assessment methods expertise to support a culture of inquiry and innovation. See below for guidance on how to request OIE assistance. Note: It’s never too early to notify OIE of a project you need our assistance with — Please aim for a 3-week lead ahead of time.
Requests for Institutional Data
The use of institutional data in decision-making at Queens College is critical. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) can inform academic departments and administrative offices about what data are available, in what forms, and how the data can address their questions. Once data needs are determined, OIE can access current and historical data and provide departments with reports or dashboard displays of the data they have requested.
If you require institutional data and the data cannot be acquired either through (a) the College Profile, (b) your department chair or unit director (via their access to QC Tableau Server), or (c) QC Navigte Staff, then submit a request to OIE. Send an email to qc.oie@qc.cuny.edu with the following information:
- Which department/program is requesting the data?
- What questions are you are trying to answer?
- What specific data elements do you need?
- From what year(s) or term(s) do you need the data?
- How will this information be used and/or disseminated?
- What is the time frame of your project?
Note: Please provide OIE with a 3-week lead ahead of time for data requests.
Requests for Survey Assistance
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) can assist with all aspects of survey implementation including the design, validity, sample creation, administration, analysis of responses and summary of results (subject to availability and existing survey schedule).
What you can expect from OIE:
- OIE can review pre-existing survey instruments or help you create new instruments.
- OIE may use Google Forms or Survey Monkey to field the survey.
- Surveys typically remain open for 2-3 weeks.
- OIE will send 2-3 email reminders to non-respondents.
- OIE can keep you informed of your survey’s progress (response rate).
- OIE will provide summaries of the analyses conducted on survey results within two weeks following the closing date of the survey. Special analyses may require additional time to complete.
- De-identified data may be provided upon request.
- If incentives are offered, OIE can randomly select the appropriate number of winners for you. You will be responsible for purchasing the incentives, contacting the winners, distributing the incentives, and completing any administrative work regarding the incentives.
To request survey assistance from OIE, send an email to qc.oie@qc.cuny.edu with answers to following questions:
- Which department/program is making the request?
- What question(s) do you hope the survey will answer?
- Who is the target population?
- How will the survey results be used?
- What is the time frame of your project?
- What type of survey assistance do you need?
We recommend contacting the OIE before attempting to create a survey so that the methodology can be discussed ahead of time. If designing your own instrument, please consult our Best Practices in Survey Research, as good data only comes from good methodology. Department chairs and program directors may see our Program Assessment Survey Template or our Alumni Outcomes Survey Template for examples of appropriate question items and answer options.
Requests for Assessment Guidance
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) aims to promote meaningful and intuitive approaches to higher education assessment practices. We believe that assessment should not only make sense and facilitate evidence-based decision making, but also build a culture of inquiry, collaboration and innovation. With research methods and data analytics expertise, OIE can help you shape an assessment project to make it valid and driven by answerable questions; help you keep your assessment plan on track; help you interpret the assessment findings with data visualization dashboards; and help you facilitate discussions with your colleagues about the results.
To request assistance from OIE, send an email to qc.oie@qc.cuny.edu, or use the contact form below.
We ask that faculty conducting assessment review our Introduction to Academic Assessment prior to our first meeting. Similarly, staff conducting administrative assessment should review our Guidelines for Administrative Assessment.
“I had,” he said, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusion, my dear Watson. How dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data.”
– Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Data Analysis and Data Visualization
Queens College strives to be a data-informed institution by collecting, managing, analyzing, and presenting data about how our students perform in and after college, and how well the college and its component units achieve the college mission. Critical to our success in this area is the ability to get the right data to the right audience. The way we do this has evolved over time to capitalize on new technology platforms that engage members of the campus community from across units and at all levels of the organizational hierarchy with the data that can help them understand how well they are achieving their goals and program outcomes. Two important platforms (described below) are central to the College’s efforts to enhance student success through the use of data.
Tableau Data Dashboards
Data must be presented in a manner that informs rather than overwhelms. Building off of early work using Crystal Reports, Queens College is now leveraging Tableau, a data visualization and analysis software, to create and share interactive dashboards with the campus community.
Tableau allows skilled data analysts to develop tabular and graphical data displays that make it easier to see patterns and trends in the data to inform our efforts to improve program outcomes and overall institutional effectiveness.
Tableau Server allows us to target information to the appropriate audience and engage users from across the college with relevant data to inform programmatic and operational improvements.
Access to Tableau data dashboards on Tableau Server requires a Tableau license. Queens College holds a fixed number of Tableau Server licenses for users to access and explore data displays and dashboards. Currently, all department chairs and some other faculty have access, as do select college administrators and staff. Faculty and staff with a Tableau license: To access data displays available on Tableau Server, go to tableau.qc.cuny.edu and log in with your QC credentials/CAMS account (the user ID and password you use to log in to your work computer on campus).
QC Navigate
This comprehensive advising, communications and analytics platform was introduced at Queens College in late 2019 to better support students on the journey toward earning a college degree.
QC Navigate Staff : provides faculty and professional advisors (academic, career, financial aid, etc.) access to information about students’ academic performance and momentum (individual students and groups), direct students to relevant support services, and facilitates collaboration and coordination among the faculty and staff to help keep students on track for successful completion of their program. QC Navigate Staff includes analytic and reporting tools. Access to QC Navigate depends upon one’s role at the college. To learn more, visit the QC Navigate Staff website for helfpul resources, including how to access data using the Advanced Search Tool.
Note: Students have access to a companion app – QC Navigate Student – that makes it easy for students to access important information and resources, form study groups, schedule appointments with various support offices, and much more.