Social Research Methodologies

Zachary A. Pardos

Dr. Pardos is an Associate Professor of Education at UC Berkeley studying adaptive learning and AI. His current research focuses on knowledge representation and recommender systems approaches to increasing upward mobility in postsecondary education using behavioral and semantic data.

He earned his PhD in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation on computational models of cognitive mastery. Funded by a National Science Foundation Fellowship (GK-12), he spent extensive time with K-12 educators and students working to integrate educational technology into...

Derek Van Rheenen

Derek Van Rheenen’s research interests include the cultural studies of sport, nature sports, sport tourism, ecopedagogy, the connections between sports, learning and schooling, and the role of intercollegiate athletics in the American university system. A former Academic All-American and professional soccer player, Van Rheenen teaches courses on sport, culture, and education. In 1998 he received the Outstanding Dissertation Award in the School of Education, UC Berkeley. Professor Van Rheenen has also been named a Chancellor's Public Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley....

Tolani Britton

Tolani Britton uses quasi-experimental methods to explore the impact of policies on students’ transition from secondary school to higher education, as well as access and retention in higher education. Recent work explores whether the disproportionate increase in incarceration of Black males for drug possessions and manufacture increased gaps in college enrollment rates by race and gender over two time periods- after the passage of the Anti-Drug Act from 1986 - 1993 and after the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act from 1995 - 2000.

Prior to earning her...

Bruce Fuller

Bruce Fuller, a sociologist, delves into how institutions, large and small, attempt to lift the learning and growth of children, including why they often fall short.

This implicates surrounding ideologies and politics that move organizations to do better. His new book -- When Schools Work-- delves into why student achievement climbed for nearly two decades in Los Angeles, and how a colorful quilt of civic activists powered a variety of reforms. The...

Michelle Hoda Wilkerson

I am a learning scientist whose work explores computational literacy, with special focus on how young people learn about scientific computing, its power, and its limitations. Most recently, I have explored how two varieties of scientific computing in particular, visual data analysis tools and agent-based simulation, can be responsibly introduced as epistemic tools within the precollegiate curriculum. Because my research focuses on the ways in which these tools allow youth to explore large-scale systems with significant social impacts (e.g. climate, health patterns, nutrition, pollution), I...

Anne E. Cunningham, Professor

Anne Cunningham is a faculty member in the Learning Sciences and Human Development Cluster and also serves as the UCB Director of the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education. She is a developmental scientist known for her research on literacy and development across the life span in which she examines the cognitive and motivational processes underlying reading ability and the interplay of context, development, and literacy instruction. Dr. Cunningham has been awarded several prestigious research fellowships from the National Academy of Education, National Science Foundation, and ...

David Stevens

David Stevens is a doctoral student in the Social Research Methodologies cluster at the UC Berkeley School of Education. His research interests center on the development of alternative models for educational data analysis and their practical applications including informing instructional practices; program evaluation; school funding and resource allocation; and targeted student interventions.

His work is informed by his years as a high school science, math and Special Education teacher as well as time doing research, evaluation, and assessment at the district...

Joshua Sussman

Joshua Sussman is a researcher at the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center. His research examines the design, implementation, and effects of classroom and large-scale assessments; in particular those assessments that help teachers understand and support learning and development in early and middle childhood. He uses generalized latent variable modeling and hierarchical modeling in quantitative and mixed-methods studies.

Interests and Professional Affiliations

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