美国院校研究的性质与功能及其借鉴

【作者】 蔡国春；

【导师】 周川；

【作者基本信息】 南京师范大学 ， 高等教育学， 2004， 博士

【摘要】 本研究所要回答的问题是：(1)院校研究是什么，不是什么?它有什么样的功能?(2)院校研究的性质与功能之间存在着什么样的关系?实现这些功能需要哪些因素作为保证?(3)美国院校研究是否值得我们借鉴?我们能否借鉴?我们应该如何借鉴? 围绕上述问题本研究得到的基本结论是：院校研究是在一所高等学校内部进行的，是研究者基于本校情境、针对学校运行中的实际问题所作的分析与咨询研究，是高等学校为改进本校管理决策和运行状况而设定的一个专门实践领域。院校研究具有两个方面的功能：(1)提供数据信息服务；(2)提供决策咨询服务。院校研究功能基于以下两个方面的因素：(1)研究本身的方法论基础。即院校研究的有效性。它要求院校研究必须遵循一般科学研究的程式，采取科学的方法系统地收集数据、分析数据、解释信息、提供研究报告。(2)“研究”与“决策”相结合的体制保障。即咨询服务的直接性。这取决于“研究者”与“决策者”之间的有效沟通，它依赖于一个良好的“组织设计”。美国院校研究的成功实践正是在于这两个方面的因素都得到了较好的保证。而我国既往的类似实践难有作为的“症结”也正在如此。 有鉴于此。为了提高我国高等学校管理科学化水平，为了促进我国高等教育研究的可持续发展，我们迫切需要借鉴美国院校研究的经验与模式。当前亟待解决的问题是：(1)解构高校管理者“以经验为基础”的传统管理哲学，建构“以科学理性为基础”的现代大学管理理念；(2)检讨我国高校高教研究机构的功能定位，更新高教研究所(室)的组织设计，为有效开展院校研究实践提供制度保证；(3)加快我国高等教育数据资源建设步伐，发展校际数据共享关系，建立能够满足院校研究需要的院校数据资源库；(4)将“院校研究”纳入到高等教育学研究生教育视野，发展具有中国特色的高等教育管理博士(EdD)、硕士(EdM)专业学位制度，培养能够胜任院校研究工作岗位要求的专业人才；(5)成立全国性院校研究专业组织，以此推动我国高校院校研究实践的开展，提升研究人员专业化水平。更多还原

【Abstract】 The research questions for this dissertation are as follows: 1) What is institutional research, and what is not? What functions does it serve? 2) What relationship is there between the nature and the functions of institutional research? What factors guarantee the realization of these functions? 3) Can we draw any lessons from American institutional research? If yes, how should we draw them?Focusing on these questions, this research comes to the basic conclusion that institutional research is a kind of research done in a institution, comprising analyses and advisory research based on the situations and targeted toward the practical problems in the administration of the particular higher education institution, and that the research is a specialized practice carried out by a college or a university to improve the decision-making and polices for its good operation. Institutional research serves a university two main functions: 1) providing services in data and information; 2) providing advisory services for decision-making. The functionality of institutional research is dependent on the following two factors: 1) the methodological basis for the research, i.e., the validity of institutional research. This requires that the research should abide by the formula used by general scientific research and make use of scientific methodologies in data collection, data analysis, data interpretation and reporting. 2) the reporting relationship structure guarantee for the combination of institutional research with decision-making, i.e., the directness of the advisory service. This derives from the smooth communication between the researcher and the decision-maker and is reliant on a good organizational design. American institutional research owes its success to the fine operation of these two factors. This also helps explain why similar practices in China have not led to much fruition.On the basis of the above analysis, in order to promote the administrative efficiency of China’s universities and the sustainable development of China’s institutional research, we feel an urgent need to draw on the experience and the mode of American institutional research. At the present stage, problems to be resolved include: 1) to construct the modem concept for university administration, in which the traditional philosophy of university administrators’ experience-based decision-making is replaced by it based on scientific rationality; 2) to analyze the role of higher educational research institute in a China’s university, and to update its organizational design and function to provide guarantee for the effective practice of institutional research; 3) to facilitate the development of data resources in China’s universities, to enhance data sharing between institutions, and to construct institutional databanks capable of satisfying the needs of institutional research; 4) to integrate the fostering of personnel in institutional research into the postgraduate training in fields of higher education studies, to develop a China-specific degree system for awarding EdD’s and EdM’s in higher education administration, with the aim to cultivate specialized personnel competent at institutional research; 5) to establish national organizations of institutional research for the purpose of promoting practices of institutional research in China and improving the specialized proficiency of the researchers.更多还原