Kent, Laura. THE ACE OFFICE OF RESEARCH: ITS PURPOSES AND ACTIVITIES. American Council on Education, Washington, D.C. 1972. 33 p. (ED068530)

The purposes and activities of the American Council on Education's Office of Research are reviewed, focusing on the overriding issue of the impact colleges have on their students. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), which constitutes the backbone of research activities of the office, is described with regard to its progress, conceptual framework, student information form, and collection and processing of data. Its regular studies are discussed, including impact studies, descriptive/normative ones, studies of the college environment, methodological studies, and theoretical ones. Special projects are also considered, such as those on the evaluation of the academic administration internship program; campus unrest and change; undergraduates, graduates, and faculty at American colleges and universities; disadvantaged students; open admissions at the City University of New York; and the effects of the dissemination of research findings. Information and data bank services are also outlined, and the uses of educational research are assessed. The final few pages are devoted to a listing of selected publications on the various studies. (LH)