New Proposal to Compare Student Data in Institutional Research

This article proposes new criteria for using student data in universities. First criteria are called primary data and secondary criteria are called secondary data. We define primary data as those that are not linear combination data, and secondary data as a linear combination of primary data. For example, at the macro-level, primary data are correct and incorrect answers to a question in an examination or students' attendance and absence from a lecture. At the macro-level, secondary data are the total points in an examination or students' total attendance in and absence from a lecture. At the meso-level, secondary data are student records of lectures as well as grade point average, or rank, in the annual record of the university. Primary data are mainly constructed by faculty while secondary data are constructed by administrative staff. To compare primary and secondary data, collaboration between faculty and administrative staff is important.