My research interests sit at the intersection of social, developmental, and educational psychology. Specifically, I am interested in the development of both personal and group identities and how those identities mediate behavior (especially in the area of academics). As such, I?ve conducted research and written on the relationship between self-beliefs (e.g., global self-esteem, academic self-concept) and academic achievement and on the relationships between time use, identity, motivation, and academic achievement, and have current projects underway which examine the construct validity of measures of the self. In addition, much of my research merges theoretical and applied issues. For example, I have conducted research on the effects of mentoring on youth development (e.g., academic achievement, problem behavior), and have conducted research relevant to educational policy (e.g., impact of modified school calendars, effectiveness of summer school programs).
In addition to these substantive interests, I have strong methodological and quantitative interests. For example, I wrote (with Harris Cooper) an instrument designed to help quantify the strength of inference permitted by a quantitative research study (e.g., randomized trials and quasi-experiments), and was a member of the Standards of Evidence committee for the Society for Prevention Research, which was responsible for drafting standards for efficacy and effectiveness trials in prevention research. I am also the coordinator for the What Works Clearinghouse?s Technical Advisory Group (TAG). In this role, I provide methodological and statistical advice to the WWC, and facilitate interactions between the WWC and the TAG. I am also the Co-chair and Managing Editor of the Methods Group for the Campbell Collaboration. In this role, I function much like a journal editor, providing and coordinating methodological reviews of prospective and completed research syntheses.
Finally, I am a meta-analyst by training, and use the lens afforded by a research synthesis perspective to inform all of the primary and secondary research that I do. I am also interested in moving forward the state of the art in meta-analysis, and as such I continue to work on methodological and statistical issues that can help with this goal.