The enrollment management framework

The purpose of the study was to examine the process used to evaluate one case of a mature enrollment management operation. More specifically, the case study focused on the data gathering and analysis process used by a set of external enrollment management evaluators who simultaneously used the case site as a process and product development "beta" site for the development and validation of an evaluation instrument for assessing enrollment management operations in higher education institutions.;Case study methodology (Yin, 2003) was used to describe the "beta study" process. The "beta study" was designed in two phases: (1) a field test of instrument items and (2) an evaluation of the enrollment management operation at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro using the instrument.;In Phase I, the field test consisted of a survey sent electronically to fifty-eight full-time and associate consultants employed by Noel-Levitz, Inc. Survey participants (the twenty-seven who responded) were asked to determine if the instrument items lacked clarity or relevance to achieving enrollment objectives. Phase II included an assessment of inter-rater reliability, interviews with faculty and staff at the case institution, interviews with the evaluators during a debriefing session, video records of the training and debriefing sessions, and related field notes of observations taken throughout the duration of the site visit provided the data for the study. Observer field notes were coded into NUD*IST 6 for analysis by the attributes related to patterns of user understandings and behaviors that facilitated or impeded valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process.;The guiding question for this study was "What are the patterns of user understandings and behaviors that facilitate or impede valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process?'" Research questions were as follows: (1) What are the patterns of feedback intended to clarify the evaluation instrument and ensure item relevance? (2) What are the patterns of user understandings that facilitated valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process? (3) What are the patterns of user understandings that impeded valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process? (4) What are the patterns of user behaviors that facilitated valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process? (5) What are the patterns of user behaviors that impeded valid and reliable findings in the "beta study" process?;Findings and related conclusions revealed implications for enrollment management practitioners, consultants, and the enrollment management profession. Said findings were deemed to be valid and reliable as defined in the conceptual terms of replicability, causal relationships, and generalizability.