Biography

Websites:
Website
Research with Rowan
Google Scholar

Education:
Ph.D., Quantitative Psychology, University of Oklahoma
B.S., Psychology, Brigham Young University

Research Expertise:
Data Visualization | Statistical Pedagogy, | Philosophy of Statistics | R | Statistical Computing | Replication Crisis | Meta Science

Psychology has a massive problems: only 30% of research is reproducible.

Why?

I think it's primarily due to poor methodological and statistical practices. We attempted to copy physics, with their focus on objectivity and certainty, but failed to capture the essential elements that make science science, including making sense of data.

It's easy to throw one's hands in the air and surrender our career paths to an easier science, like chemistry or physics. But I'm content being stubborn. I'd rather repair the sinking ship than abandon it.

So how can it be fixed? To me, fixing science requires a solid understanding of data. That's really what my research comes down to. My research focuses on how to understand data, which really comes down to:

* Building statistical models rather than performing tests
* Visualizing data rather than outputting tables upon tables
* Interpreting effect sizes rather than relying on p-values

Much of what I've publish is directed at lay audiences, showing best practices for making sense of data. I also develop a lot of software tools for data analysis, including flexplot and flexplavaan (in R), Visual Modeling (in JASP), and flexplot (in Jamovi). In addition to my publications and software, I also advocate for my approach through my YouTube channel, QuantPsych. 

Honors and Awards:
President's Award for Excellence in Innovative Instructional Delivery
Rowan Textbook Affordability Award

Professional Memberships:
American Psychological Association, Division 5

Selected Publications:
Fife, D. A., & D’Onofrio, J. (2023). Common, uncommon, and novel applications of random forest in psychological research. Behavior research methods, 55(5), 2447–2466. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01901-9

Fife, D. A., Brunwasser, S., & Merkle, E. C. (2022). Seeing the Impossible: Visualizing Latent Variable Models with flexplavaan. Psychological Methods. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/qm7kj 

Fife, D.A. (2022). Flexplot: Graphically-Based Data Analysis. Psychological Methods. doi: https://psyarxiv.com/kh9c3/

Fife, D.A. & Rodgers, J. L., (2022). Understanding the Exploratory/Confirmatory Data Analysis Continuum: Moving Beyond the ”Replication Crisis”. American Psychologist. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/5vfq6 

Fife, D.A., (2020). The Eight Steps of Data Analysis: A Graphical Framework to Promote Sound Statistical Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(4). doi: 10.1177/1745691620917333