Science and Institutional Research: The Links. AIR 1991 Annual Forum Paper.

This paper compares the process and structure of institutional research with three ways of conceptualizing science. The first section examines the scientific method as a process of disciplined inquiry, then compares institutional research to that process. The second section compares the logical structure of institutional research with the logical structure of scientific inquiry. The third section utilizes Thomas Kuhn's notion of scientific paradigms to examine the community of institutional researchers. Institutional research is seen to share many elements of science, though differing in purpose. The paper concludes that the dynamic nature of institutional research demands frequent shifts in the process of pattern identification, especially in light of the dependence of institutional research upon the politics of higher education and the social goals of governments and communities. Includes 14 references. (DB)