Meet Dr. Jessica Flake, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at UBC.
Dr. Flake’s research focuses on the development of measurement practices for psychological research with an emphasis on instrument development and use, particularly in large-scale research settings. As a psychology major, she was interested in why and how some students drop out of school, whereas others persist. But, taking required statistics courses in the math department ignited an interest in quantitative methods, ultimately leading her to pursue a PhD in educational measurement. Today her work focuses on improving statistical practices, particularly those related to measurement, across various areas of psychological research.
“If you've ever gotten back a result you were surprised by, you've probably wondered if the measure was bunk. My work focuses on understanding the how and why this happens, and ways to address invalidity, sometimes in real world educational settings, but mostly for measures used for research purposes.”
Dr. Flake joins us for a Q&A where we learn more about her research program, new research she’s excited about, her motto—and what she does outside of the lab and classroom.
As one of our newest faculty members, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m originally from Kentucky and landed in Canada for a post doc back in 2015 and then never left. Before coming to UBC, I spent 6 years in Montreal et maintenant parle un peu français. My expertise is in psychological measurement and psychometric models. More recently I’ve been focused on the measurement challenges of doing more globally representative research in a transparent way, putting me at the intersection of psychometrics and open science.
What kinds of questions do you try to answer through your research?
Are we measuring what we think we are measuring? How well does this method work for the data/context at hand? Are the results of my model biased? By how much? If I analyze or measure something one way, do it get the same answer if I use a different measure or method?
Can you give us an example of this in our daily lives?
We get measured all the time from admission exams to satisfaction surveys to how we are ranked for promotion and raises. If you’ve ever gotten back a result you were surprised by, you’ve probably wondered if the measure was bunk. My work focuses on understanding the how and why this happens, and ways to address invalidity, sometimes in real world educational settings, but mostly for measures used for research purposes.
How did you become interested in this line of research?
I worked at an inner city school between finishing undergraduate and going to graduate school for a program called GearUP, which offered support and services aimed at increasing the rates of university admission for at risk youth. I worked with these kids day to day and knew their unique struggles and strengths, I had an inside view of how the program was supporting them. When we brought them in for “assessment day” they sat down for two hours and took surveys. I just remember thinking, “is this really capturing how we’ve supported these students?” and realizing I was going to need to learn more about statistics to really understand that. I worked in educational assessment and program evaluation for a few years before transitioning to work on measurement focused academic research.
Can you tell us about any new research that you are particularly excited about?
Over the past few years I’ve been working on using registered reports for large scale psychometric research and it has been hard! This sparked an interest in understanding how did analysis decisions can lead to different patterns of results. I’m excited to focus more on this problem over the next few years. I’m hoping to develop maps of the garden of forking psychometric modeling paths.
Do you have a motto?
“Just get up and work on your sh*t” 😀
What do you like to do in your free time?
Get outdoors and tend to my plants.
Join us in welcoming Dr. Flake to UBC Psychology!
