David Rindskopf

Social Personality Psychology

office: rm 3201.1
phone: 212.817.8287
email: drindskopf@gc.cuny.edu

I don't know who invented the term "empirical epistemologist," but I do know that when I first heard the term I knew that it was a perfect phrase for describing what I do. Almost all people believe that they are epistemologists in a vague sense; after all, isn't everyone searching for the truth? But empirical epistemology implies the search for methods that will help researchers who design studies and collect data. For each supposed fact in social science, one could ask "How do we know that this is true?" My teaching and research is devoted to helping researchers answer this question. My work covers three broad areas in research methodology: measurement, research design, and statistical analysis of data. Because my work is in the area of methodology, the content areas in which I apply these methods are varied.

For example, one method on which I have done research is latent class analysis (LCA), which detects whether there are distinct types of people. Obvious applications in psychology include testing developmental stage theories (e.g. Piagetian), and learning theories. Other applications include medical diagnosis (did a person have a heart attack or not).

Another area in which I teach and do research is multilevel modeling. This technique is used when data are nested. For example, children are nested within classes, classes within schools, and so on. In social psychology, you might observe people within small-group settings, in which case individuals are nested within the small group. Modern methods allow researchers to take into account this hierarchical structure of data, and to detect effects of both individual and group level variables on behavior.