Data Tool Box
Following is a listing of tools which have been designed and built by HigherEd.org.
Note: selecting a tool will take you off the HigherEd.org web site.
- IPEDS DATA ANALYSIS SYSTEM (DAS)
- The IPEDS DAS allows users to dynamically generate tables for one year of IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) data at a time. These tables provide sums, counts, and percentage estimates. The tables are structured by choosing rows and columns of data variables and value labels, including by-column specifications and spanner specifications for groups of IPEDS institutions defined by user defined filters. Numerous HR data are in the IPEDS DAS. As a subtask for maintaining the IPEDS DAS, HigherEd.org recently produced hundreds of IPEDS State Information Tables (SIT) for 2004 which provide state comparisons of key data, many of them HR-related such as average faculty salaries. Extensive analysis and cleanup of these HR tables was conducted as part of the data verification process
- IPEDS EXECUTIVE PEER TOOL (ExPT)
- The purpose of this online software is to mirror in a web application the IPEDS Data Feedback Reports which are prepared for institution presidents and others. The ExPT allows users to modify peer groups and analyze peer comparison data in a simpler, more intuitive, and user-friendly design. The ExPT was designed to whet the appetite of policy makers and others for peer analysis data, so that they will want to use the other PAS tools to get more data and conduct further analysis. The ExPT was released in November and is the 2006 version.
- IPEDS PEER ANALYSIS/DATASET CUTTING TOOL (IPEDSPASDCT)
- The IPEDS Dataset Cutting Tool is designed for “power users” of IPEDS data who are familiar with the NCES surveys and types of available data. Users may dynamically create customized versions of IPEDS datasets for all available years, picking the variables and value labels they desire. The DCT also allows users to dynamically generate SAS, SPSS, and STATA read programs to import a comma-separated CSV file, including value labels and format statements. The DCT is currently being expanded to allow users to select multiple years of data at the same time. Behind-the-scenes applications or consoles have been created for NCES staff to pick which variables are displayed for the selection of peer institutions for each year and for creating special files of data files, syntax programs, and customized data dictionaries for every IPEDS table in the database.
- INTERACTIVE IPEDS GLOSSARY
- The purpose of this task was to develop an IPEDS Glossary, which is featured on the IPEDS website and provides a searchable database of terms used in all of the IPEDS surveys. Features include:
- an alphabetical listing of terms that may be chosen by letter
- a search engine to find terms or search definitions using keyword strings
- embedded links to related terms within definitions
- update capabilities available to IPEDS staff.
- ANSWERS
- The Accessing National Surveys with Electronic Research Sources (ANSWERS) online software was developed as a National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) initiative starting in 1999. The NPEC Accessing Survey Resources project provides survey developers with extensive information about existing surveys. A matrix of data variables is provided that connects survey developers to information about "standard" surveys in the postsecondary education field; for example, to detailed information about what data are collected, how to obtain the data, the definitions being used, and the survey procedures and protocols that are in place. The ANSWERS data portal provides a complex taxonomy of data dictionaries, as well as special “banks” of questions, definitions, and survey developer information for all types of users, from policy analysts to federal and state education agencies. Special audience pages were created to illustrate interesting uses of national datasets to meet research needs, including several examples of HR data.
