Performance indicators as conceptual technologies.

This paper posits that performance indicators (PIs) are conceptual technologies that shape what issues academics think about and how academics think about those issues by embedding normative assumptions into the selection and structure of those indicators. Exploring the assumptions embedded in Alberta's (Canada) PIs yields an initial typology of assumptions that academics can apply to performance indicators in higher education to understand, refine or critically challenge their introduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]