Director of Institutional Research
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Director of Institutional Research oversees institutional research and studies for a college or university. Designs and leads studies evaluating the effectiveness of the institution's programs and policies. Manages data collection and analysis with regards to these questions, and directs formulation of research reports.
Job Outlook
There were 20 Director of Institutional Research job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 474 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Researcher / Research Associate industry, which includes the Director of Institutional Research career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Director of Institutional Research jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,557.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,557.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Institutional Research postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $84,285.
Education and Experience
Posted Director of Institutional Research jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 4.85% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 42.19% |
| Master's Degree | 85.02% |
| Doctoral Degree | 35.44% |
| Other | 2.11% |
Posted Director of Institutional Research jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 9.65% |
| 3 to 5 years | 72.39% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.67% |
| 9+ years | 4.29% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Institutional Research positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (79.54%)
- Planning (76.58%)
- Decision Making (72.15%)
- Leadership (63.71%)
- Strategic Planning (57.81%)
- Communication (54.85%)
- Management (48.95%)
- Writing (39.45%)
- Coordinating (28.9%)
- Presentations (25.95%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Dashboard (37.37%)
- Relational Databases (17.83%)
- Institutional Research (99.36%)
- Data Management (32.7%)
- Surveys (37.37%)
- Data Warehousing (25.69%)
- SPSS (Statistical Software) (37.15%)
- Statistical Analysis (30.15%)
- Data Collection (44.8%)
- Power BI (21.87%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (32.48%)
- Research Methodologies (25.48%)
- Data Governance (32.48%)
- Data Analysis (61.15%)
- Social Sciences (21.23%)
- Data Visualization (31.42%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (35.24%)
- Project Management (26.11%)
- External Reporting (26.11%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Finance (11.46%)
- Internal Reporting (14.65%)
- Student Services (12.53%)
- Policy Development (14.23%)
- Microsoft Access (13.8%)
- Data Science (12.53%)
- Survey Research (8.28%)
- Information Systems (10.62%)
- Business Intelligence (15.5%)
- Program Development (3.82%)
- Advanced Analytics (3.18%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (12.74%)
- Educational Assessment (12.31%)
- Program Evaluation (11.68%)
- SAS (Software) (19.32%)
- Qualtrics (13.16%)
- Operational Planning (5.94%)
- Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) (3.4%)
- Statistics (16.35%)
- Higher Education (17.2%)
- Benchmarking (11.04%)
- Program Assessment Rating Tool (8.7%)
- Data Literacy (4.25%)
- Student Information Systems (15.71%)
- Statistical Software (19.96%)
- Information Management (4.67%)
- Research Design (17.62%)
- Compliance Reporting (6.79%)
- Student Learning Outcomes (11.04%)
- Educational Research (12.31%)
- Database Management (6.16%)
- Data Quality (6.79%)
- Course Evaluations (7.01%)
- Liberal Arts (4.46%)
- Student Engagement (3.82%)
- Data Mining (8.07%)
- Enrollment Management (19.53%)
- R (Programming Language) (16.99%)
- Predictive Analytics (9.98%)
- Academic Affairs (17.2%)
- Performance Metric (5.52%)
- Computer Science (12.1%)
- Reporting Tools (10.19%)
- Annual Reports (3.4%)
- Statistical Methods (7.22%)
- Decision Support Systems (9.98%)
- Data Integrity (18.47%)
- Predictive Modeling (5.73%)
- Qualitative Research (12.95%)
- Business Intelligence Tools (5.31%)
- Workflow Management (7.86%)
- Quantitative Research (12.95%)
- Strategic Decision Making (7.86%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- External Reporting (28.67%)
- Data Analysis (67.13%)
- Dashboard (41.03%)
- Data Governance (35.66%)
- Data Visualization (34.5%)
- Data Warehousing (28.21%)
- Relational Databases (19.58%)
- Project Management (28.67%)
- Power BI (24.01%)
- Social Sciences (23.31%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (38.69%)
- Surveys (41.03%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Institutional Research skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness
- Associate Director of Institutional Research
- Director of Institutional Research and Assessment
- Institutional Research Analyst
- Institutional Researcher
- Director of Institutional Effectiveness
- Director of Reporting and Analytics
- Assistant Director
- Director of Decision Support
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Research Analyst
- Data Analyst
- Data Specialist
- Business Analysis Manager
- Data Manager
- Business Intelligence Analyst
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Institutional Research jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- State University of New York (7)
- University of Houston (7)
- New York Institute of Technology (6)
- Felician University (5)
- University of Pennsylvania (5)
- Virginia State University (5)
- Florida Institute Of Technology (5)
- Marian University (5)
- University of Missouri (5)
- Delta College (4)
North Carolina
- Johnson C. Smith University (3)
- Brunswick Community College (2)
- North Carolina Central University (2)
- Davidson College (2)
- Guilford College (2)
- Paml (1)
- Southwestern Community College (1)
- University of North Carolina (1)
- Pitt Community College (1)
- Nash Community College (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Adult and Community College Education Master's Degrees
- Community College Leadership Doctoral Degrees
- Educational Leadership Doctoral Degrees
- Statistics Education Graduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.