Implications and challenges to using data mining in educational research in the Canadian context

Abstract

Canadian institutions of higher education are major players on the international arena for educating future generations and producing leaders around the world in various fields. In the last decade, Canadian universities have seen an influx in their incoming international students, who contribute over $3.5 billion to the Canadian economy (Madgett & Bélanger 2008, p. 195). Research in Canadian post-secondary institutions is booming, especially in education (SSHRC, 2011)—for the academic year 2010-2011, of the 12 subject areas, the total SSHRC funding for projects in education, ranked fourth, exceeding $27 million. All of these variables place Canadian higher education in a leading and strategic position in several educational research fields. One can imagine the wealth of knowledge about trends in higher education that could be revealed if the large amount of data generated by Canadian universities were systematically analyzed and handled using techniques such as data mining. However, not much can be achieved from the unharnessed knowledge accumulated on a daily basis, as the advancement of data mining research that would provide the ultimate tool to learn about trends and changes in Canadian institutions is often held back by inadequate data warehousing, as well as by privacy, confidentiality, and copyright regulations. In this paper, we engage in a critical discussion/analysis of the interface between data mining research in higher education and the legal implications of such a tool.