Collecting and Reporting Data
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Jeff Gallant
Why Collect Data?
When running an OER program, time can often be scarce, and a program manager may wonder why data collection needs to occupy a significant portion of this always-limited resource. Besides extrinsic motivators such as a demand for data in a report to stakeholders, data is also the peripheral nervous system of your program’s organization; it is the way a program can assess successes, failures, emergent ideas, and urgent issues to address.
How Can Data Help?
Data collection, analysis, and reporting can yield multiple benefits for your OER program. Data can guide strategic decision-making when a program wants to adjust, adapt, and move forward. A report based on collected and analyzed data can help tell the story of why your program has the potential to, or already is, making a difference in your institution or system. Data can also indicate a need for targeted open education programming and funding, such as data on high textbook costs, students’ financial needs, or faculty awareness of OER.
Data Collection and Ethics
Before collecting data, be sure to keep some basic ethical guidelines in mind:
Privacy
Data privacy may be a priority at your institution already, given the potential for cybercrime and the existence of legal requirements for data privacy, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in the United States. Alongside these, be sure that you have a reason to collect and/or report any personal identifiable information (PII) before doing so. For example, if an awarded grant proposal requires an institutional email address (which is likely already displayed on their campus website), this is likely enough contact information; including a phone number or a physical address may not be necessary.
Consent
Anyone who is submitting data to you, or getting data collected passively via web or platform analytics, should know who this data will be submitted to and why it’s being collected. When someone has informed consent in submitting data to you, not only do they acknowledge that their data is being collected, but they know your intent in collecting and using this data. Transparency in your data needs pre-collection and your reporting post-collection will help.
Anonymity
Alongside data privacy, be sure to anonymize, or “de-identify,” the data you collect whenever necessary. For example, in the United States, institutions often meet FERPA guidelines in collecting student data by replacing PII with an anonymized identifier with no meaning to anyone except the data collectors and analyzers (OECD 2016).
Equity
Equity is often an implicit goal in OER programs; any program that attempts to close the gap in educational materials costs and barriers to access is essentially addressing educational equity (DOERS3 2021). Therefore, be sure to collect, analyze, and report your data through the lens of educational equity; if you can analyze how the implementation of OER affects margina