What We Do

The OWL team researches…

The Future of the Workforce:
Employee Performance and Academic Success

  • Defining and measuring individual and team performance in employment, military and academic settings (e.g., technical, non-technical, interpersonal and intrapersonal behaviors)
  • Measuring key correlates of performance (e.g., promotion, certification, attrition, satisfaction)
  • Understanding individual differences that contribute to performance (e.g., knowledge, skill, motivation)

The Effectiveness of the Workforce:
Workforce Readiness and Personnel Selection

  • Investigating school-to-work transitions, with particular attention paid to subgroups such as STEM, gender, racial/ethnic minority, first-generation college students
  • Investigating the legal implications and applications of personnel selection practices (e.g., Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)
  • Researching selection approaches that incorporate job classification, person-job fit, and web-based recruiting systems

The Measurement of the Workforce:
Developing Psychological Tests

  • Developing and improving selection and admissions tests, metrics and systems
  • Evaluating and developing employment, licensure/certification and admissions tests used in employment, military and academic contexts (e.g., tests of job knowledge, cognitive ability, personality, biodata, situational judgment)
  • Statistically modeling the psychometric reliability, validity, and structure of psychological tests
  • Determining whether tests function similarly across racial/ethnic and/or gender subgroups

The Analysis of the Workforce:
Big Data and Modern Analytics
for Organizations and Colleges

  • Using, critiquing, and extending statistical methods used in organizational research: big data and machine learning, meta-analysis, CFA/SEM, IRT, multilevel models, Bayesian analysis, adverse impact analysis, and other methods
  • Advising graduate students, academic and practitioner colleagues, and various stakeholders (companies, non-profits, governmental agencies, legal firms) on their statistical analyses, particularly those relevant to organizational research and practice
  • Teaching statistical methodologies in graduate seminars, short courses, and workshops (e.g., at universities, conferences, and government agencies)