Collecting and Reporting Data
22
Jeff Gallant
As discussed in the Data Collection chapter, before you begin collecting data, you should have a plan for what you need to collect, why you need to collect it, and how you will collect it for the purposes of decision-making and reporting. That’s not all, though; the second step in your data strategy is to decide how larger measures, like student savings, are calculated, presented, and analyzed.
Calculation Principles
When you are calculating any savings data to present to the public or to your stakeholders (see Chapter 8, Building Familiarity on Campus, for more on getting to know your stakeholders, and see Chapter 21, Data Collection and Strategies for OER Programs, for more on gathering data to answer stakeholder questions), consider a few key principles in processing this data:
Be able to say “it’s at least this much.” Take every caveat into account when calculating and presenting savings data and report conservatively. An example of this is using only the direct reported savings from OER program grantees in calculations instead of a reported potential for more savings if the entire department adopts the resources. If your actual savings are higher than your reported potential savings, that’s great news for all if it’s revealed later on!
Use transparent methods whenever possible. Some of the numbers you have will be directly taken from surveys, reports, and faculty-reported savings estimates, but others (such as applying an average textbook cost savings estimate per student in one course) may have to be taken from external sources. If possible, use external sources who report their own data and estimates openly, and link to those sources within your reports and shared spreadsheets.
Adapt your methods to the needs of your stakeholders. If you notice an emerging critical question that you did not anticipate in your collection strategy, try to adapt your calculation methods. For example, in its first year, Affordable Learning Georgia started tracking annual savings estimates from its faculty teams; when it was clear that administrators needed semester-by-semester data to answer their questions about OER use on campus, we changed our new grantees’ reporting methods to include semester-by-semester estimates and checked in with our past grantees on this as well.
Reporting Principles
Be as transparent as possible, whenever helpful. While many of your stakeholders will just need a summary report to keep up-to-date on your program, providing all of the important data in its primary form (spreadsheets, a database) and sharing your methodologies will help in “sharing the work” on how you reached the numbers in your report and assist others in answering their more complex questions. Try to avoid sharing extraneous and/or sensitive data: in your tracking sheets, you may have things like grants office contacts, invoice and purchase order numbers, or personal identifiable information (PII) that does not need to b