On September 26, 2024 from 3:00-4:00pm at Copley Formal Lounge, the McCourt School of Public Policy’s Massive Data Institute (MDI) will host Jennifer Hill, Ph.D., Professor of Applied Statistics, Co-Chair of the Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities (ASH) Department and Co-Director of PRIISM at New York University for the MDI Distinguished Lecture. The lecture will be followed by a reception.
Abstract:
The past few decades have seen an explosion in the development of freely available software to implement statistical methods and algorithms to help explore and analyze data. However, researchers tend to assume that releasing software packages implementing specific methods is sufficient for ensuring that the tools are adopted and used correctly. Typically, very little attention is paid to the user experience. This in turn means that the tools do not get used, are used incorrectly, or the results are misinterpreted. This talk will present a case study for how software development could be different by describing a causal analysis tool that scaffolds the user experience. I will discuss lessons learned through user studies and experimental evidence. I conclude with calls to action for those that develop methods and software.
About Jennifer Hill, Ph.D.:
Jennifer Hill, Ph.D. (she/her) develops and evaluates methods to help answer the types of causal questions that are vital to policy research and scientific development. In particular, she focuses on situations in which it is difficult or impossible to perform traditional randomized experiments, or when even seemingly pristine study designs are complicated by missing data or hierarchically structured data. Hill is currently the Co-Chair of the Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities (ASH) Department as well as the Co-Director of the Center for Practice and Research at the Intersection of Information, Society, and Methodology (PRIISM). She was the co-founder of the Master’s of Science Program in Applied Statistics for Social Science Research (A3SR) at New York University. Hill earned her PhD in Statistics at Harvard University in 2000 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Child and Family Policy at Columbia University’s School of Social Work in 2002.
About the MDI Distinguished Lecture Series:
The Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Massive Data Institute (MDI) brings leading scholars from around the world to Georgetown University to share cutting edge research at the intersection of technology and policy. The lecture is followed by a reception.
About the Massive Data Institute (MDI):
At Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, the Massive Data Institute (MDI) is an interdisciplinary research institute that connects experts across computer science, data science, public health, public policy, and social science to tackle societal scale issues and impact public policy in ways that improves people’s lives through responsible evidence-based research. For more information on MDI, please visit https://mdi.georgetown.edu/
Accommodations: Please indicate accessibility requests by September 19, 2024 in the RSVP Form.
Transportation: Georgetown University is accessible for faculty, staff, students and visitors through many convenient transportation options, including our free university shuttle, public transportation, bicycling, carsharing and other means. Learn more about transportation options here.See here (Interactive map) or here (PDF) for a Georgetown University campus map.
Questions? Please contact mdiresearch@georgetown.edu.
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