Texas Tech University

Institutional Research FAQ and Definitions

(Definitions apply only to IR Cubes, IR Data Warehouse, and IR Fact Book)

Frequently Asked Questions:

What does Institutional Research (IR) do?

Mission Statement

  • The mission of the office of Institutional Research is to facilitate institutional planning and decision making by providing university administration, staff, and faculty with strategic data.
  • The department of Institutional Research provides precise statistical information to all units of the university, regulators, and others; designs, develops, and implements strategies and techniques to research, assess, and improve effectiveness.
  • One of our many functions is to provide official data to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), University Administrators, Accrediting Agencies, Government Agencies, and the General Public.

What is Official data?

  • Every semester, Institutional Research extracts data from Banner on the official census date. These extracted files are ‘frozen' and become the uncertified official enrollment files that are used for all reporting.
  • Data that is submitted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating board does not always exactly match the official data in our extracted files. Sometimes THECB rules prevent us from reporting certain students to the THECB. The data submitted to the THECB is considered ‘certified.'

Why does IR's Official number differ from what I just ran using a COGNOS ‘Student' Folder report?

  • COGNOS Student Folder reports (the old Tech Reports) run on current data in BANNER which changes daily. IR's numbers are based on the official ‘frozen or static' extracted files as of the census date and do not change.

Which number should I use, the current data from COGNOS or the Official IR frozen/static data?

  • The answer to this question depends upon what you are trying to report.
  • For most reporting to government agencies or other entities that require official enrollment, use the IR frozen/static files (IR Fact Book, IR Data Warehouse, or IR CUBES).
  • If you need to know how many students will be graduating in May, or current enrollment in a class, use the COGNOS current data.

 

Definitions:

BE SURE TO CHECK THE DEFINITION OF THE SOURCE DOCUMENT BEFORE MAKING YOUR DECISION.
  • IR Fact Book: All reports are based on official ‘frozen' IR data files.
  • IR Data Warehouse Reports: All reports are based on official ‘frozen' IR data files except for Weighted Credit Hours (WSCH) which are based on ‘Certified' data.
  • IR CUBES:All reports are based on official ‘frozen' IR data files except for Weighted Credit Hours (WSCH) which are based on ‘Certified' data.

Reports Available in IR CUBES:

T_IR_ST_Course_Registration_CUBE: Semester Student Credit Hours Taught/Course Registrations by Academic Area, Fiscal Year, Course Level, College, Department, Subject, and Term. Based on Official IR Data.

T_IR_ST_Degrees CUBE: All Degrees and Certificates granted by College, Department, Program, Major, Student Level, Award Category, Type of Award Granted, Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship. Degrees are extracted at the end of each semester and updated at the end of each fiscal year.

T IR ST Enrollment CUBE: Contains Enrollment by College, Department, Program, Major, Student Level, Student Classification, Student Population, Ethnicity, Full/Part-time Status, Gender and Home for pre-defined student populations.

T IR ST RetGrad CUBE: Retention/Graduation Rates by College, Department, Program, Major, Student Level, Student Population (New or Transfer), Ethnicity, Full/Part-Time Status, Gender, and Home of student within the University, College, or Department. Uses the New Student or New Transfer Cohort (FTIC) Count in all queries.

    • Retention: Tracks New Freshmen/New Transfer students from fall-to-fall to see if they are stilled enrolled.Uses the entering term cohort (FTIC) count of the specific group.
    • Graduation Rates: Tracks New Freshmen/New Transfer students from their entering term over a period of years to determine if they graduated, and how long it took them to complete their degree. Uses the entering term cohort (FTIC) count of the specific group.
    • Cohort - First Time in College (FTIC): The official total count of full-time degree seeking New Freshmen from High School/New Transfer students that are enrolled at TTU in summer/fall of a specific term.

T IR ST WSCH CUBE: Weighted Credit Hours by College, Fiscal Year, Formula Funding Classification by Division (Total, Upper, Lower, Masters, Doctoral, Law). Based on certified data and used for formula funding.

CAUTION: WHEN USING IR CUBES, BE SURE TO VERIFY THE OVERALL TOTALS WITH ANOTHER SOURCE (i.e. IR FACT BOOK) TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING THE DATA YOU EXPECTED. DOES THE COUNT LOOK REASONABLE?

For example: In CUBES you write a query to pull all undergraduate enrollment for the college of Arts & Sciences by department for Fall 2012. The query returns a total of 9,569 but the IR Fact Book shows 8,357. What is the difference? The query does not include the ‘undergraduate' enrollment filter and has returned the Total Enrollment for Arts & Sciences for Fall 2012.

 

IR CATEGORY DEFINITIONS
(These definitions apply only to IR Data Warehouse, IR Fact Book, and IR Cubes)

Category

Definition

Enrollment

Students registered in credit-bearing classes by the official census date and paid by the payment date. Students are assigned to colleges and departments based on their major program.

Applied/Admitted

Number of applications completed for a given term and student level. The number admitted is a subset of the applications received.

First Time Undergraduate Student

Students enrolling in higher education for the first time after completing high school.

New Undergraduate Transfers

Students enrolling at Texas Tech for the first time after completing course work at another institution.

New Graduate Students

Students enrolling in graduate level course work for the first time at Texas Tech. Students who completed undergraduate work at TTU and then enroll in graduate level courses are also included in these numbers.

New Law Students

Students enrolling in TTU Law school programs for the first time.

Semester Credit Hours

Credit hours taught in credit-bearing courses. Credit hours are generated by courses and assigned to the department and college responsible for teaching the course.

Degrees/Certificates

Counts of degrees and certificates officially awarded by year and term. Counts are based on the student's first major/primary program.

Grade Distribution

The number of each grade awarded within a particular class.

Retention Rates

The percent of students who are still enrolled or who graduated based on a particular entering cohort (FTIC). Students are tracked based on their original major and department.

Graduation Rates

The percent of a cohort (FTIC) of students who earn degrees after a certain number of years.

Weighted Semester Credit Hours

Weighted semester credit hours are used by the state of Texas to calculate formula generation. Credit hours taught for each level and discipline are weighted by a matrix determined by the THECB.

 

IR DATA SOURCE GUIDE

DATA NEEDED

IR FACT BOOK

IR DATA WAREHOUSE REPORTS

IR CUBES

Applied/Admitted

Applied/Admitted

Not Available

Not Available

Certificates Awarded

Degrees/Certificates

Degrees Awarded

T IR ST Degrees CUBE

Degrees Awarded

Degrees/Certificates

Degrees Awarded

T IR ST Degrees CUBE

Enrollment

Total Enrollment

Enrollment

T IR ST Enrollment CUBE

Grade Distribution

Not Available

Grade Distribution

Not Available

Graduation Rates

Not Available

Retention/Graduation Rates

T IR ST RetGrad CUBE

New Student Enrollment

New Freshmen from High School; New Undergraduate Transfers; New Graduate Students;

New Law Students.

Enrollment

T IR ST Enrollment CUBE

Retention Rates

Not Available

Retention/Graduation Rates

T IR ST RetGrad CUBE

Semester Credit Hours (SCH)

Semester Credit Hours

Semester Credit Hours

T IR ST Course Registration CUBE

Student Evaluations

Not Available

Course/Instructor Evaluations

Not Available

Weighted Credit Hours

Not Available

Weighted Semester Credit Hours

T IR ST WSCH CUBE

Pre-Banner Data (Prior to Spring 2009)

Historical Fact Book (see link below)

Historical Data Warehouse

(see link below)

Not Available

 

Helpful Links:

COGNOS Supports the following web browsers:

  • Apple Safari: 5.0
  • Apple Safari on iOS: 5.x, 6.x, 7.x
  • Blackberry Playbook Browser: 1.0, 2.0
  • Google Chrome: 32
  • Google Chrome for Android: 26
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer: 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10, 11
  • Mozilla Firefox: ESR 17.0, ESR 24

For Troubleshooting Cognos: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/dmfr/resources/index.php

Contact Information:

Institutional Research
MS 2017
Texas Tech Plaza, Suite 401
806-742-2166 (main office)

Institutional Research

  • Address

    Texas Tech Plaza, Suite 401 | 1901 University Ave. | MS2017 Lubbock, TX. 79410
  • Phone

    806.742.2166
  • Email

    irim@ttu.edu