Statistical and qualitative software support principles
The Advisory Panel is committed to:
1. Ensuring excellence in teaching and research through access to analytic software tools.
The commitment of Kent State University to embody "Excellence in Action" necessitates that students and researchers have access to the best research tools. Centralized funding, access, and support of these tools saves the University money and boosts the quality and quantity of our contributions to findings in the fields represented by KSU. Central accessibility and support provides students with no cost or low cost access and faculty, staff, and academic units with subsidized access. This central accessibility and support saves departments by leveraging volume purchases and site license discounts and by reducing duplication of support services.
2. Serving a diverse KSU community of stakeholders.
Central access and support services for analytical software supports a diverse KSU Community of Stakeholders. The software housed in and supported by University Libraries is used by students and researchers in fields from all 10 Colleges at KSU. The statistical and qualitative software tools are used by faculty and students in virtually every department in Kent State University. Finally, centrally accessible software and support provides the foundation for collaboration and interdisciplinary ventures which allows Kent State to be on the cutting edge of creation, innovation, research, and teaching.
3. Supporting learning in the classroom and through distance technologies in the KSU community with analytical software while recognizing the constraints of licensing agreements.
The Advisory Panel recognizes that some vendors provide limited or no access to their software for students. Some vendors provide access, but not to distance learners. The Panel will continue to explore ways to work with the vendors and to assess which software tools provide the most support for teaching and learning.
4. Promoting the ethical and legal use of statistical and qualitative software at KSU.
The Panel has embarked on a two-pronged approach to promoting the ethical and legal use of statistical and qualitative software. We will continue an education campaign aimed at bringing awareness to the ethical and legal implications of unlicensed use of software. We will also continue to update our management of software protocols to provide mechanisms for tracking licenses and promoting a culture of software license compliance.
5. Periodically reviewing university-licensed software to address the need for a suite of university-licensed tools that serve both the social and physical sciences while balancing budgetary constraints.
The Advisory Panel is committed to supporting the mission of KSU in promoting excellence in scholarship, teaching, and research. The Panel will periodically review statistical and qualitative software to assess which packages meet the community's needs. In particular, the Advisory Panel will make recommendations acknowledging the need for software that supports the physical sciences in addition to the social sciences and with an understanding of the need to provide software that is state of the art and encourages progress in teaching, research, and scholarship.
