ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on factors affecting data communication. It describes that audience characteristics were painted with broad strokes. For an institution to create a culture of data-sharing, the definition for data-sharing success could include the extent of data and information that are disseminated to, and then used by, consumers and stakeholders rather than the absolute number of reports generated by an office. The location of the institutional research office, with the majority located in Academic Affairs or the Office of the President, leads to what R. L. Swing and L. E. Ross describe as a "ranked set of users." Faculty members are another potential audience. Among social scientists and STEM researchers, data-sharing behaviors were associated with perceived career benefit and perceived normative pressure. Finally, the creation of new ideas, formation of new insights, or generation of new options does not result from producing more graphs or drilling down into the data.
