Name: Benjamin Baumfalk
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Major/program: Quantitative, Qualitative and Psychometric Methods in the Department of Educational Psychology
CYFS graduate assistantship: CYFS’ Bureau for Education Research, Evaluation and Policy, and the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics
Raised in South Africa, methodologist Debbie Miller moved cross-continentally seven times—all before starting college.
These experiences shaped her perspective on culture and its research impact, which she shared with faculty and students during the Feb. 5 Methodology Applications Series.
The MAP Academy hosted Jessaca Spybrook, associate professor of educational leadership, research, and technology at Western Michigan University, for the Dec. 3-4 Emerging Scholars Series. The series featured a keynote presentation, statistics workshop and an early career meeting for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
UNL alumnus Craig Enders returned to campus Oct. 26 to host the MAP Academy’s Fall 2015 Nebraska Methodology Workshop: “Dealing with Missing Data.”
There have been substantial methodological advances in the area of missing data analyses during the last 25 years. Methodologists currently regard maximum likelihood estimation (ML) and multiple imputation (MI) as two state-of-the-art handling procedures for missing data.
Dan Hoyt, professor of sociology, began the 2015-2016 Methodology Applications Series on Sept. 18 with a discussion titled “Research Ethics with Minority Communities.”
Hoyt is a professor of sociology and the associate dean of faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. His primary scholarly interest is focused on mental health and substance use among high-risk adolescents. He is currently a co-investigator on NIH-funded grants, examining these issues among homeless and runaway youth, and American Indian children. Hoyt is also interested in general methodological issues, including approaches to gathering data on sensitive topics and how to conduct research with populations that are difficult to sample and access.
While childcare shapes the trajectory of future generations, evaluating its impact is far from child’s play.
Led by Greg Welch, CYFS research associate professor, a multi-campus University of Nebraska team has received funding to evaluate and inform childcare quality. The CYFS-housed project, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, will pinpoint the minimum thresholds of childcare quality needed to promote positive development and prevent negative outcomes for children birth to age five.
UNL’s College of Education and Human Sciences, together with CYFS, has launched an interdisciplinary research initiative to improve education from preschool through higher education.
Led by Greg Welch, research associate professor, the Nebraska Bureau for Education Research, Evaluation and Policy will pursue evaluation and policy research opportunities in partnership with educational entities throughout the state, including the Nebraska Department of Education. The bureau will give special attention to accountability policies that promote improvement in education systems.
International data analysis, with its steep barrier to entry, remains uncharted territory for many researchers.
Leslie Hawley, research assistant professor with the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, is applying this data to answer education policy questions—and she wants to help other researchers navigate its use.