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Elizabeth Tipton

Elizabeth Tipton

She/Her
  • Professor of Statistics and Data Science
  • Professor of Education and Social Policy (by courtesy)

Contact

tipton@northwestern.edu
2046 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208
Website
Curriculum Vitae

Affiliated Center(s)

Statistics for Evidence Based Policy and Practice (STEPP) Center

Research Interests

Development of statistical methods for policy research, including experimental design, sampling, and meta-analysis.

Biography

Policy makers and practitioners are increasingly called upon to make decisions on the basis of scientific evidence, particularly on results from large randomized trials and on the combination of results across many smaller trials (via meta-analysis). My research focuses on the development of statistical methods and tools for making these ‘causal generalizations’. With regards to large randomized trials, I am interested in developing methods to improve their generalizability and external validity, particularly in education and psychology. This includes the development of improved research designs as well as the use of propensity score methods for improved estimation. My research in meta-analysis focuses on methods for modeling and adjusting for dependence between effect sizes. Here my interest is in the development of small-sample adjustments for cluster robust variance estimation – methods that have application not only in meta-analysis but also in economics and survey sampling. To date, my research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, and the Raikes Foundation.

Education

  • PhD in Statistics, Northwestern University, 2011
  • Certificate in Education Sciences, Northwestern University, 2011

Awards and Honors

  • Frederick Mosteller Award for Distinguished Service to Research Synthesis, Campbell Collaboration (2020).
  • Best Publication Award, Behavioral Science and Policy Association (2020).
  • Anne Anastasi Distinguished Early Career Award, American Psychological Association – Division 5 (Quantitative Research Methods) (2017)
  • Early Career Award, Society for Research Synthesis Methods (2017)
  • Early Career Award for Quantitative Research Methodology (given every three years), American Education Research Association – Division D (2016)

Selected Publications

 Fitzgerald, K. G., & Tipton, E. (2023) A Knowledge Mobilization Framework: Toward Evidence-Based Statistical Communication Practices in Education Research. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1-21.

Tipton, E., Bryan, C., Murray, J., McDaniel, M. A., Schneider, B., & Yeager, D. S. (2023) Why meta-analyses of growth mindset and other interventions should follow best practices for examining heterogeneity: Commentary on Macnamara and Burgoyne (2023) and Burnette et al. (2023). Psychological Bulletin, 149(3-4), 229 241.

Tipton, E. (2022) Sample selection in randomized trials with multiple target populations. American Journal of Evaluation, 43(1): 70-89.

Pustejovsky, J. & Tipton, E. (2022) Meta-analysis with robust variance estimation: Expanding the range of working models. Prevention Science, 23: 425-438.

Tipton, E. (2021) Beyond the ATE: Designing randomized trials to understand treatment effect heterogeneity. Journal of the Royal Statistics Society: Series A, 184(2): 504 -521.

Bryan, C., Tipton, E., & Yeager, D. (2021) Behavioral science is unlikely to change the world without a heterogeneity revolution. Nature Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01143-3.

Tipton, E., Spybrook, J., Fitzgerald, K., Wang, Q., & Davidson, C. (2021) Towards a System of Evidence for All: Current Practices and Future Opportunities in 37 Randomized Trials. Educational Researcher, 50(3): 145-156.