Skip to main content
News Home

Category: Research, Measurement & Evaluation Methods

Study aims to support Brazilian early childhood development

Leslie Hawley and Natalie Koziol
Leslie Hawley and Natalie Koziol

Identifying what is developmentally normal for young children—and what is not—can lead to earlier interventions and better outcomes. Two Nebraska researchers are addressing this need for the world’s fifth most-populated country: Brazil.

Leslie Hawley, CYFS research assistant professor, and Natalie Koziol, CYFS postdoctoral scholar, are creating a screening tool to detect developmental delays in Brazilian children. They are collaborating with Denise Ruschel Bandeira, a professor at Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, as part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln/Brazil Early Childhood Initiative. Full Article

Video available for Martin’s methodology presentation

Meredith Martin presents at the April 14 Methodology Applications Series.
Meredith Martin presents at the April 14 Methodology Applications Series. View presentation.

Meredith Martin, assistant professor of educational psychology, led the first presentation in the 2017 Methodology Applications Series on Friday, April 14. The series is sponsored by the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics.  Full Article

Collaboration aims to study, shape children’s attitudes toward engineering

Teacher. Firefighter. Doctor. Astronaut. Many of these careers land on children’s lists of what they want to be when they grow up. CYFS research assistant professor Lorey Wheeler would like to see another profession added: engineer.

With a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Wheeler is joining a team from Arizona State University to study how children’s knowledge, stereotypes and achievement-related beliefs affect their interest in engineering. It’s a field in which job growth is outpacing the number of adults who pursue related degrees, especially among women and ethnic minority students. Full Article

MAP Academy hosts Emerging Scholars Series

Stefany Coxe
Stefany Coxe

The MAP Academy hosted visiting scholar Stefany Coxe for the Jan. 19-20 Emerging Scholars Series. The event featured a public keynote presentation titled “Real-world questions about using regression models for counts” and a two-part workshop titled “Generalized linear models: All in the family.” Full Article

Graduate Student Q&A with Jared Stevens

Jared Stevens
Jared Stevens

Name: Jared Stevens

Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska

Major/program: Quantitative, Qualitative, Psychometric Methods

Graduate assistantship: CYFS’ Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics

Anticipated date of graduation: 2019

Educational background: Bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Full Article

Video available for fall methodology workshop

David MacKinnon presents during the fall 2016 Nebraska Methodology Workshop.
David MacKinnon presents during the fall 2016 Nebraska Methodology Workshop.

David MacKinnon, foundation professor of psychology at Arizona State University, led the 2016 Nebraska Methodology Workshop on Sept. 30.

The all-day workshop, “Introduction to Modern Mediation Analysis,” drew more than 80 students, faculty and community members. MacKinnon also presented a free, public keynote address at the conclusion of the workshop, titled “Controversies in Modern Mediation Analysis.” Full Article

Arthur receives student paper, travel awards

Ann Arthur
Ann Arthur

Ann Arthur, CYFS graduate assistant, has earned student paper and travel awards from the International Conference on Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing.

During the Nov. 9-13 conference in Miami, Florida, Arthur will present her paper, “Advances in Questionnaire Design for Youth.” She developed the paper while working on a project with CYFS’ Nebraska Academy for Analytics, Psychometrics and Analytics (MAP Academy). Full Article

Team supports 4-H program evaluation

CYFS methodologists with the MAP Academy are helping 4H enhance a set of survey instruments. The team includes, from left, Jarrod Stevens, Natalie Koziol, Lorey Wheeler, Ann Arthur, Michelle Howell Smith and Leslie Hawley.
CYFS methodologists with the MAP Academy are developing measures to help 4-H assess youth development outcomes. The team includes, from left, Jared Stevens, Natalie Koziol, Lorey Wheeler, Ann Arthur, Michelle Howell Smith and Leslie Hawley.

A CYFS team is traveling nationwide to help 4-H assess its impact—one that extends to nearly six million youth through school and community programs, clubs and camps.

The team is working to enhance the 4-H Common Measures, a collection of multiple survey instruments that assess youth development outcomes. The team’s revisions began last year with input from a national advisory board. They are now heading into the field to get perspectives from the survey’s intended demographic—4-H youth and leaders. Full Article