Jian Li, Ph.D.

Jian received her Ph.D. in Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement from The Ohio State University in 2010. Before her appointment to the Research, Measurement and Statistics program at Kent State University, she worked as a research associate in the Evaluation Research Program at WestEd, a research organization stationed in California, where her responsibilities included developing and implementing research design, assessing instruments’ psychometric properties, and conducting first-hand and secondary analysis of large-scale databases. Her general research interests focus on methodological issues when quantitative statistical methods are applied to data that either have complex structures or are not perfect. She frequently uses hierarchical linear modeling, structural equation modeling, and advanced experimental and quasi-experimental designs such as randomized controlled trials, propensity score matching, regression discontinuity design, and interrupted time series. The second focus of her research is the application of statistical techniques in answering substantive research questions. She is interested in assessing how physical and psychological health can affect human behavior, particularly in the populations with disabilities or vulnerabilities. 

Jian has served as an editorial board member for the Journals of Experimental Education and Personality Assessment and guest co-edited one special issue of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation in the field of education and rehabilitation. She has been invited to serve on the Advisory Board for one international research project and one domestic research project funded by the National Science Foundation. In addition, she has been elected Program Chair and Chair of the Advanced Studies of National Databases Special Interest Group in the American Educational Research Association, the most prestigious association in education, for the 2019-2023 serving term. In addition, she has served as a Co-PI or a statistician on projects funded by National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Institute of Education Sciences, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, and State agencies.

In her role as a faculty member at Kent State University, Jian teaches courses such as Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Structural Equation Modeling, Factor Analysis, Multivariate Analysis, Multiple Regression, Introduction to Statistics, and Program Evaluation. The focus of her teaching, curricular development, and advising is doctoral education in quantitative research methods, measurement and statistics. Among her doctoral advisees who have graduated, three have received national recognition for their dissertation study.