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Performance indicators as conceptual technologies

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Abstract

This paper posits that performance indicators (PIs)are conceptual technologies that shape what issuesacademics think about and how academics think aboutthose issues by embedding normative assumptions intothe selection and structure of those indicators.Exploring the assumptions embedded in Alberta's(Canada) PIs yields an initial typology of assumptionsthat academics can apply to performance indicators inhigher education to understand, refine or criticallychallenge their introduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alberta Colleges & Institutes Faculties Association, #412 10357, 109th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5J 1N3

    Bob Barnetson

  2. The Johns Hopkins University, USA

    Marc Cutright

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  1. Bob Barnetson
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  2. Marc Cutright
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Correspondence to Bob Barnetson.

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Barnetson, B., Cutright, M. Performance indicators as conceptual technologies. Higher Education 40, 277–292 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004066415147

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