ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the pros and cons of cultivating a data culture. Although such a culture may be effective in the short term, it is difficult for an organization to develop and advance due to the impetus stemming from external forces rather than internal ones. Further, accountability initiatives tend to focus on specific metrics of interest to external bodies rather than cohesive data of benefit to the institution and ultimately student success. A successful data culture exhibits four key behaviors, it: shares data, values data, trusts data, and uses data. Cultivation of a data culture is most easily grounded in a teleological frame of organizational change. In contrast, a data culture seeks to democratize and distill data into information to guide decision-making that focuses on the institution's mission. The public outcry over increased higher education costs has led to greater scrutiny of institutional resources.
