Findings of the study suggest that data are influential in online distance education decision making, especially if the decisions have major consequences; that the emergent nature of online distance education can limit data availability, but that college leaders can still make decisions by gathering data that do exist, generating new data through pilots, and using their experience and judgment; that the rational choice, incremental, political, and constructivist models are useful for explaining online distance education decision making; and that contingency approaches that combine elements of these models are particularly helpful for providing the most complete explanations for these complex decisions.