大數據與校務研究

Big Data and Institutional Research

大學校務運作其實相當複雜。傳統的決策模式通常是透過校內各種會議，做成決議，再形成政策，以為校務決策的參考或依據。身處資訊時代，雲端運算及行動科技的方便，資料產生快速成長，易於在短時間內匯集成大數據，而資料科學家也大力強調大數據的價值，一時蔚為風潮。校務研究並非新觀念，在美國及其它國家的大學已行之數十年，但臺灣的大學並未重視，所幸近年教育部倡議，也獲大學的積極呼應。配合大數據的風行，企圖以數據為導向，從事校務研究，改變傳統的決策模式。傳統的決策模式已不足於解決現在所發生的問題，因此，透過校務研究，以數據為決策的基礎，應是種較為理性的方式。本文旨在闡述校務研究與大數據的關係，釐清一些與大數據有關的觀念。文中擧兩所大學之大數據與校務研究為例，提供參考。最後提出一些建議，敬請批評指教。

Operation of institutions of higher learning is quite complicated. Decision-making process in the traditional institutions includes preliminary meetings and， conclusion to be reached so as to develop due policy. Today we are living in a digital age in which cloud computing and mobile technologies are convenient to access. As data is growing faster than ever， releasing the value of big data and strategies for processing large amounts of data more rapidly by data scientists have become increasingly popular. While much has been implemented on institutional research (IR) in the United States and other countries for decades， little attention has focused on the research in Taiwan. Fortunately， there is a supporting advocacy from the Ministry of Education recently and active responses from universities have been echoed. Different from traditional decision-making process， using big data to study IR and embracing data-driven decision making will lead to valuable perspectives and solutions beyond traditional data and thus， could be considered as a rational approach. This paper aims at examining the relationship between IR and big data. It will help clarify the concepts related to big data， and proposes examples of big data analysis in IRs for two universities. Concludes with suggestions for future work will be presented along this line.