Authors
Patrick E. McKnight, Ph.D.
Patrick is an associate professor of psychology at George Mason University, where he leads MRES (Measurement, Research methodology, Evaluation, and Statistics), a group of students and faculty who work together to do science more carefully. His research sits at the intersection of measurement, motivation, and meaning, spanning purpose in life, curiosity, trust, and the methods for measuring them well (scale development, data validity, and evaluation). He describes himself as a partner, father, professor, adventurer, and quantitative data enthusiast, and he built this book on a simple conviction: the best way to learn statistics is to care about the answer.
Simone C. McKnight, Ph.D.
Simone is a human factors researcher and engineer with the U.S. government at the Transportation Security Administration; she has also worked at Google and with other agencies across the country. Trained at George Mason University, she brings an applied, data-driven view of how people and technology perform together under real conditions.
Her current role is red-team security testing for the TSA: she designs, organizes, and carries out adversarial security tests at airports across the United States, then analyzes and reports the results. It is work that measures how safety systems actually hold up, not how they are supposed to, and it is one of the most interesting jobs we know. Demanding and high-stakes at the moment, and exactly the kind of measurement-in-the-real-world this book is about. (Simone will fill in the rest in her own words.)
Jeffrey Stuewig, Ph.D.
Jeff is a research associate professor of psychology at George Mason University, trained in developmental psychology, evaluation, and prevention research. His work centers on risk and antisocial behavior broadly defined, including the moral emotions of shame and guilt, family violence, and the factors that shape recidivism and rehabilitation, much of it through the long-running study of jail inmates he conducts with June Tangney.
Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D.
Todd is a professor of psychology at George Mason University and an internationally recognized researcher on well-being, curiosity, psychological flexibility, and social relationships. He has published more than 225 peer-reviewed articles and written several books, including The Art of Insubordination, The Upside of Your Dark Side, and Curious?. He directs the Well-Being Lab and collaborates closely with the MRES group on the measurement and research questions that run through this book.