Institutional Research and Planning
About Our Office
Who We Are
The Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) serves as a primary resource in building a culture of evidence, as well as bringing statistical and social science research methods on the institutional data found throughout the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
What We Do
Our office conducts research, plays leadership and consulting roles, and serves as a steward for the institution’s student data. We also support the college's planning and improvement functions, ranging from strategic planning to accreditation.
Our Goal
The IRP Office meets the needs of the Foothill College community by conducting evaluation and research, providing data reports used for inquiry, evaluation, and improvement plans, and identifying processes ensuring institutional effectiveness. We partner with other campus units to facilitate thoughtful and purposeful decision-making toward equitable student outcomes.
Requests for Data and Evaluation
To support a culture of evidence, inquiry, analysis, decision-making, and continuous improvement, our office provides services upon request. See how to make a research request.
Requests for Student Contact Lists
Our office supports the ongoing privacy protection of students and employees (as outlined by FHDA District guidance) where individuals are not identified by personal characteristics. Effective campus communication requires coordination of informing students in a balanced manner. Emails from multiple units can lead to stress and information fatigue, along with lower open and click rates. The effectiveness of mass email communication will be assessed by collecting data on its impact as part of ongoing process improvement.
Schedule a meeting by contacting Elaine Kuo at kuoelaine@fhda.edu.
The Team
Frequently Asked Questions
We try to think about research as an organized and systematic way of finding answers to questions. In the case of practitioner-focused research and evaluation, the end goal is to understand and improve student experiences and outcomes. Typically, a research request would require:
- The extraction of data from an existing source (e.g. Banner).
- The collection of data (e.g. surveys or focus groups).
- The identification of data from an outside source (e.g. National Student Clearinghouse).
- May involve documenting change over time or establishing baseline numbers to reach a better understand about specific outcomes.
The data needed to answer your request is typically sourced from the Banner database, but it can also come from third-party software supported by the college, such as SARS, ClockWorks, Starfish. We also may access the MIS data supported by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (used to inform the Student Success Metrics and the Student Centered Funding Formula). Sometimes we will collect our own data whether through surveys and/or focus groups/interviews.
The response time can vary depending on the current workload and the difficulty involved in accessing the data requested. Ideally, you want to build in as much time as possible and we will respond as quickly as we can. We generally request a two-week turnaround time if possible.
Feel free to contact the College Researcher if there are any questions or concerns about timeliness.
Elaine Kuo
Director, Research & Planning
Foothill College
650.949.6198
kuoelaine@fhda.edu
Contact Us
Elaine Kuo, Director
Building 1900, Office 1959
650.949.7240
kuoelaine@fhda.edu
