Student Affairs by the Numbers

Our future will be built by student affairs educators who view themselves as scholar-practitioners. The current conditions of higher education require curious professionals who see the many research questions that surround our daily work. Understanding and engaging the science of research and statistics is not a skill reserved for faculty--it is a basic necessity for practitioners who seek to make meaningful contributions to policies, programs, and experiences that matter for students and their learning. This book is a must-read and will transform how you do your work and make decisions. --Patricia A. Perillo, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Affairs and Assistant Professor of Higher Education Virginia Tech, Former president of ACPA-College Student Educators International Sriram does a masterful job presenting in an accessible manner a topic that many of us in student affairs tend to avoid: quantitative research and statistics. He presents essential, foundational information about research design, data collection, and statistical analysis in a manner that allows the most numbers-averse among us to find value by situating each chapter's discussion in a real-life situation. Readers will be able to recognize themselves in these situations and see how they might use quantitative research techniques to answer their own work-related questions. Both graduate students in student affairs masters programs and full-time student affairs professionals will find great value in this well-written and relatable book. --Robert D. Reason, Professor, Student Affairs and Higher Education Iowa State University Rishi Sriram's philosophical approach to research and the phobia surrounding statistical analysis is spot on. Students will find great value in reading this book, as will professionals working on their institution's accreditation. Perhaps the greatest value the book provides is setting the tone for developing and sustaining a culture of research and assessment. --Matthew R. Wawrzynski, Associate Professor and Coordinator Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education Program Michigan State University, and Executive Editor, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice Student Affairs by the Numbers couldn't arrive at a better time. The pressure from state-based performance-based funding, increased rigor from regional accrediting agencies, and an increase in a 'return-on-investment' approach to funding and program review underscores the critical importance of developing a core competence in quantitative statistics and assessment. This book is a valuable resource for student affairs professionals and graduate students who are developing research and evaluation efforts on core student affairs programs and services. --Kevin Kruger, President of NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education -Rishi Sriram's philosophical approach to research and the phobia surrounding statistical analysis is spot on. Students will find great value in reading this book, as will professionals working on their institution's accreditation. Perhaps the greatest value the book provides is setting the tone for developing and sustaining a culture of research and assessment.Rishi's philosophical approach to research is about assessing if learning is happening and if programs are having the type of influence student affairs professionals want. The focus is on student learning, so accreditation and proving value of programs is a secondary by-product of doing the research. Perhaps these ideas resonate with me because I share similar philosophies with students in my research and assessment class.As I mentioned, the book is very well-organized, which is one of its many strengths. Other strengths include the case introductions at the beginning of the chapters, the length and readability of the chapters, and the various examples provided in text. These cases place student affairs professionals in a given context, which helps them see themselves with the various presented situations and scenarios. The list of review questions at the end of each chapter does a nice job of helping readers to identify key areas of learning from the chapter.---Matthew R. Wawrzynski, Associate Professor and Coordinator Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education Program -Michigan State University, and Executive Editor, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice -