Data for Departments and Programs
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) makes use of student and employee data from both internal and external data systems. Most of the data is derived from the college’s student and human resources management system, CUNYfirst, sometimes directly, but mostly indirectly through extracts from CUNYfirst. Other data come from external data collections such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). OIE staff access institutional data from college and central office databases that arrange CUNYfirst data in ways that support the ongoing information and reporting requirements of the college. These include:
- CUNY IRDB (Institutional Research Database)
- QC Data Warehouse
- CUNYfirst Reporting Instance
The OIE provides institutional data to QC departments and programs to inform student success initiatives, support program development and/or evaluation, and to guide strategic planning. Note that information provided by the OIE below may differ slightly from CUNYfirst user queries as CUNYfirst data are frozen snapshots and may not yet reflect official counts.
Institutional Data via Tableau
Queens College is leveraging Tableau, a data visualization and analysis software, to create and share interactive dashboards with the campus community. Institutional data are widely available on the QC College Profile, the QC Tableau Server, and the CUNY Student Data Book. Note that access to the data dashboards on the QC Tableau Server requires a Tableau license.
Learn more here: Tableau Data Dashboards.
Institutional Data via QC Navigate
QC Navigate Staff provides faculty and advisors access to information about students’ academic performance and momentum (individual students and groups), and facilitates coordination among faculty and staff to help keep students on track for graduation. This comprehensive advising, communications and analytics platform was introduced at Queens College in late 2019 to better support students on the journey toward earning a college degree. Access depends upon one’s role at the college. To learn more, visit the QC Navigate Staff website, for helpful resources, including how to download data using the Advanced Search Tool.
Note: Students have access to a companion app – QC Navigate Student – that makes it easy for students to access important information and resources, form study groups, schedule appointments with various support offices, and much more.
Request Data from the OIE
Institutional data are widely available on (a) the QC College Profile, (b) the QC Tableau Server, (c) the CUNY Student Data Book, and (d) QC Navigate Staff. If the data you need are not available, submit a request (providing a 3-week lead):
DATA REQUEST FORM
IMPORTANT NOTES
(1) The OIE adheres to a strict interpretation of FERPA. The OIE may only provide aggregated, de-identified information, and only to QC members who have a need to know when fulfilling their official responsibilities.
(2) All data shared by the OIE should be considered sensitive information. Any personnel working with the data should follow basic data security practices. In some cases, the requestor may need to complete a Restricted Use Agreement.
(3) The OIE receives a high volume of requests. It may take us a few days to respond to your inquiry, and the time it takes to receive data depends on the complexity of the request and availability of our staff. Please give us as much advance notice as possible.
Compliance and Restrictions
In general, the OIE may only provide aggregated and de-identified information, and data are made available only to QC faculty and staff who have a need to know when fulfilling their official responsibilities at Queens College. The extent of data we can provide may also be governed by compliance constraints, such as:
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- European Privacy Notice (GDPR)
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The OIE adheres to a strict interpretation of FERPA in favor of privacy, and we follow the ethical principles of our professional organization as institutional researchers. As data stewards for the college, it is our responsibility to ensure the confidentiality, security, and appropriate use of data. For this reason, the OIE will disclose only the information required to address the research question of a data request.
