Research Design and Analysis
Research Design and Analysis (RDA) staff provide collaborative services and resources for proposal development, data analysis, and data management with the goal of enhancing the validity, rigor, and impact of university research.
Statistical Services
Our statisticians assist researchers in proposal development, including guidance on hypothesis development, study design, sample size determination, appropriate measurement techniques, and data analysis planning and assisting researchers in conducting advanced statistical analyses and disseminating the results of these analyses. Staff include:
Kandace Fleming received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Research from the University of Kansas in 1998 and has been a member of RDA since 1998. As a Senior Scientist and Director, Fleming is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the RDA Unit. She has expertise in multilevel and longitudinal analyses, single-subject and small sample statistical techniques, measurement, and instrument development. She is fluent in SPSS, SAS, and Mplus. She has served as Co-PI, Co-I, or consultant as a quantitative methodologist on more than 50 funded projects from NIH and IES in the areas of communication, educational interventions, and individuals with disabilities. She has particular expertise in the examination of intervention effectiveness using RCTs and other methodologies.
Rebecca E. Swinburne Romine received her Ph.D. in Quantitative Methods in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2011 and joined RDA in 2012. An associate research professor, she has expertise in a variety of statistical models including multilevel models, logistic regression, confirmatory factor analysis, Cox regression, and profile analysis. She is works primarily in SPSS, Mplus and SAS, and is familiar with AM for complex sampling, Lisrel, and AMOS. She also is a frequent user of REDCap. She has served as a Co-I, external evaluator, statistician or quantitative methodologist on numerous funded projects from NIH, CDC, DOE, OJJDP, and others in the fields of education, communication, behavioral interventions, and at-risk youth.
Tyler Hicks received his Ph.D. in Education at the University of South Florida in 2015, with a double concentration in Quantitative Methods and Special Education. A member of RDA since 2018, he has served as a quantitative analyst on several funded projects. An assistant research professor, Hicks is responsible for assisting scientists in designing and implementing the analytic techniques needed to attract funders and advance their research. His main expertise focuses on Bayesian approaches to modeling data with reduced sample sizes. He is fluent in SAS and, on occasion, dabbles in R and Mplus. His scholarship has been published in Educational Researcher, American Journal of Evaluation, and Remedial and Special Education.
Data Management Services
Our research database engineer is Lisa Hallberg. She joined RDA in 2010 and has over 20 years of experience in database application development, both in academia and the public sector. She has extensive experience in web application development, including server configuration and administration, database management, application architecture, and user interface design for desktop, web, and mobile devices. In her role as database manager she develops customized data collection and retrieval methodology for novel or existing instruments, including web-based forms, paper forms that use optical capture software to input data, and programs to validate data accuracy, automate scoring and extract data.
In addition, RDA also provides secure data storage by hosting and managing a HIPAA-compliant, encrypted, secure web server for online data collection and a HIPAA-compliant database server for data storage. RDA’s servers are securely housed in KU's central IT Services, including redundant backups, both physical and firewall-based security, regular security audits, and disaster recovery plans.
By assisting with project management, Hallberg and the RDA team will seek to find a data management solution that fits within each projects’ time and budget constraints. Online data collection and management options include both custom web development and direct data maintenance, as well as REDCap, a sophisticated software package designed and developed collaboratively by researchers at Vanderbilt University and other research institutions around the world. REDCap offers research teams a web-based interface for the development of data collection instruments and participant management systems, without any computer coding.
Ed Auer received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from S.U.N.Y. Buffalo in 1992 and joined the RDA in 2023. Before joining the Lifespan Institute, Ed was research faculty in the Communication Neuroscience Laboratory of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The George Washington University. He continues part-time as a cofounder and software developer at SeeHear LLC. SeeHear is a startup that offers cloud-based speech perception training and testing systems for adults with hearing loss and/or difficulty understanding speech-in-noise. His entrepreneurial interest in translating fundamental research into the marketplace led to his completion of the NSF I-Corps National Teams training program. As part of the Data Management Services team, he provides support for data collection and management within both REDCap and custom solutions.
He has over 30 years of experience developing software and managing data for research on human communication. He develops software for laboratory and web-based research data collection in Python, Javascript, R, and MATLAB. His web-based solutions use the Django framework hosted in the Amazon Web Services environment. He has experience with data processing, management, and analysis in R, SPSS, EEGLAB and Brainstorm. He has experience developing user interfaces for custom research hardware and in developing multisensory speech and language materials.
