Faculty
Research Methods faculty members hold rank in GSEHD's Department of Educational Leadership but provide research methods courses and research support for students and faculty from across GSEHD. Current faculty members of the research methods group are:
Jaehwa Choi, Ph.D.
Sharon Dannels, Ph.D.
Lionel Howard, Ph.D.
Susan Swayze, Ph.D.
Brandi A. Weiss, Ph.D.
Travis Wright, Ed.D.
Youngji Sung, Ph.D. (Visiting Professor)
Each faculty member has expertise in a specific research tradition or statistical procedure and can provide research or dissertation assistance. Drs. Mueller and Yen specialize in quantitative procedures, while Drs. Graham and Dannels can provide guidance with either quantitative or qualitative methods. Drs. Mueller and Yen are located on the main campus; Dr. Graham has offices at GWU’s Virginia Campus and at the Alexandria Graduate Center; and Dr. Dannels is located at the Hampton Roads Center.
More detailed information about each faculty member can be found by clicking on a particular faculty member’s name.
Jaehwa Choi, Ph.D.
Jaehwa Choi received a Ph.D. (2006) in measurement, statistics, and evaluation from the University of Maryland at College Park. He currently is an assistant professorwithin the Department of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University. He teaches educational measurement and other quantitative research method courses. His primary area of research interest concerns various latent variable modeling techniques such as IRT, HLM,and SEM.
Contact Information:
(202) 994-2602
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Sharon Dannels, Ph.D.
Sharon Dannels received a BA with a dual major in sociology and social work from Whittier College and a MS in clinical social work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She completed a MS and PhD in experimental psychology (biological basis of personality) from the University of Oklahoma. To continue her education, Sharon completed a post-doctoral fellowship in internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Her career experience includes work as a group therapist at a treatment facility for delinquent girls, clinical therapist and director of out-patient services at a large county mental health center, and faculty at University of Maryland and local Japanese schools in Okinawa, Japan.
Sharon teaches the doctoral research courses at The George Washington University, Hampton Roads Center (HRC): EDUC 298, EDUC 302, and EDUC 307. She also teaches EDUC 295 at the HRC when her schedule allows. She teaches the Survey Research class (EDUC 330), which is a distance course available to all GSEHD doctoral students. Sharon serves on a large number of dissertation committees and is the primary research resource for the HRC.
For more information, consult Dr. Dannel's Curriculum Vitae.
Contact Information:
(757) 269-2213.
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Lionel Howard, Ph.D.
Dr. Howard received a Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. He is currently an assistant professor of research methods within the Department of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University. He teaches doctoral level courses in research methods (EDUC 6114, EDUC 8122, and EDUC 8100).
His research involves investigating the intersection of race, ethnicity and gender, and its implication for identity development and educational attainment. He is particularly interested in the socialization of masculinity among African American boys as mediated by their relationships with significant individuals, as well as the micro- and macro-level structures and psychosocial experiences that influence African American and Latino students’ development and educational experiences. His research is theoretically informed by developmental psychology, feminist relational psychology, gender role strain, conceptions of Black masculinity and theories of motivation and achievement. Even more important, his research is guided by the principal that socio-cultural and historical context are important in the study of phenomena. To this end, he uses both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in his research.
Contact Information:
(202) 994-4959
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Susan Swayze, Ph.D.
Dr. Swayze received a Ph.D. (1995) in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently an assistant professor within the Department of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University. She teaches case study research methods, introduction to quantitative research,and regularly conducts workshops on qualitative and quantitative research designs. Dr. Swayze's primary research interests include women and minorities in education and organizations.
Contact Information:
(703) 299-8349
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Brandi A. Weiss, Ph.D.
Dr. Weiss received a Ph.D. in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Maryland at College Park. Prior to that she received a B.S. in Psychology, and an M.A. in Assessment, Measurement, and Statistics from James Madison University in Virginia. She is currently an assistant professor of quantitative research methods within the Department of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University. She teaches doctoral level courses in quantitative research methods (EDUC 6116, EDUC 8120, EDUC 8171, and EDUC 8173). Her primary area of research interest concerns methodological issues in latent variable modeling techniques. She is particularly interested in structural equation modeling, interactions and non-linear relations between latent variables, and data-model fit indices.
Contact Information:
(202) 994-4362
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Travis Wright, Ed.D.
Travis Wright's training is in the areas of human development and psychology, counseling, and qualitative methodology. Most ofhis work explores risk and resilience in the lives of women and young children living in poverty, especially the influences of schools, close relationships, neighborhoods, and social policy. The mission ofhis research lab, The Project on Early Childhood, Community, and Social Change, is to expand my previous work on behalf of women and young children living in poverty, developing innovative approaches to curriculum, parent involvement/support, and community development.Wright and the project's other participantsare currently working on an intervention targeting the most vulnerable children and families in the District. Through their efforts,they hope to explore the ways highly-stressed families navigate risk and resilience, gaining a better perspective on which types of supports might be most helpful to them.A long range goal of Wright's is to partner with community-based organizations serving low-income families in Washington, DC to develop improved/alternative models of child-care delivery and maternal support.He welcomes the opportunity to work along with creative, passionate graduate student researchers.
Contact Information:
(202) 994-1980
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Youngji Sung, Ph.D. (Visiting Professor)
Dr. Sung received her Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is currently a visiting assistant professor within the Department of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University. She teaches doctoral research courses (EDUC 6116, EDUC 8120, and EDUC 8171) and EDUC 6114. She applies multivariate statistics and HLM to longitudinal growth models for learning and change, using nationally representative large databases, to explore policy issues related to academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged language minority students.
Contact Information:
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