The Education Advisory Board dedicates multiple research teams to each of its membership programs, with each team assigned one or more best practice studies every year, each study taking six to nine months to complete.

The research itself involves literally hundreds of interviews with universities purported to have pioneered some best practice, with the purpose of each of these interviews to screen for those ideas truly worthy of study. From the hundreds of initial leads surfaced at the beginning of every project, we end up profiling at most a dozen or two universities that are doing something that merits our members’ attention.

Research Beyond Averages

The Education Advisory Board does not defend its research as a statistically valid sample of strategies and tactics. In fact, no attempt is made, whatsoever, to report on average practices. Rather, our staff is devoted to finding the leading universities, profiling the most innovative and successful institutions

Searching for Best Ideas Beyond Our Own Members

No matter how many members we serve, there is no guarantee that all the best ideas can be found within the membership. The Education Advisory Board searches for best practice across all universities nationwide, not just those we include as members. Our members benefit from the learning of thousands of universities nationwide.

Favoring In-Depth Interviews Over Surveys

Isolating and understanding the detailed workings of a best practice is well beyond the capacity of a survey alone. Education Advisory Board interviews are always open-ended, often lasting for an hour or more, with our analysts probing after the detailed working of every idea and hard evidence of its success.