I was a middle school science teacher who essentially worked myself out of a job because I was asking too many questions and trying to use data to make improvements. I realized I needed more training which led me to a PhD in research methods and statistics. Now that I have the knowledge and tools I need, I have three goals: First, I want to provide practitioners with tools they need to make improvements and decisions based on good data. Second, I want to use my classroom experiences to ensure a teacher-voice is heard in the research field. Finally, my love of science pulls me to ask questions that are science-education related and drives much of my research. Plus I love teaching classes that can be intimidating (i.e. stats!) and making them accessible to all my students.
Areas of Expertise
- Psychometrics and Measurement, specifically using Item Response Theory via Rasch modeling
- Quantitative Methods, specifically advanced modeling with Structural Equation Models
- Qualitative Methods
- Mixing methods
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- Ph.D in Research Methods and Statistics
Resumes/CV:
Awards
- 04/2019 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Practices Related to Non-Tenure-Track Faculty; given to the SEHD Faculty Research Center
- 06/2016 Excellence in Youth Services Award for the Putting SPELL (Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries) into Action grant work from the Colorado Association of Libraries.
- 04/2014 Best Graduate Student Paper Award from the International Objective Measurement Workshop
Research
- Creating, validating, and testing measures of latent variables, especially in education
- Applying research to practice in social science settings
- STEM topics in K-12 and higher education
Publications and Presentations
- Donovan, C. (2018). Rasch analysis of the teachers’ Knowledge and Use of Data and Assessment (tKUDA) measure. Journal of Applied Measurement.
- McDonald, S.E., Ma, L., Green, K., Hitti, S.A., Cody A.M., Donovan, C., Williams, J.H., and Ascione, F. R. (2017). Evaluation of the Parent-Report Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Sample of Children Recruited from Intimate Partner Violence Services: A Multidimensional Rasch Analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.22497
- Chu-Lien Chao, R., Vidacovich, C., & Green, K. (2017). Rasch Analysis of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale with African Americans. Psychological Assessment, 29(3), 329.
- Donovan, C., Green, K., and Seidel, K. (2017). Differential Item Functioning on a Measure of Perceptions of Preparation for Teachers, Teacher Candidates, and Program Personnel. Leadership and Research in Education: The Journal of the OCPEA.
- McDonald, S.E., Vidacovich, C., Williams, J.H., Ascione, F.R., & Green, K. (2015). The Children's Treatment of Animals Questionnaire: A Rasch analysis. Anthrozoos, 28(1), 131-144.