COLLEGE OF

Education and Human Development

Kyle Nickodem

  • Director, Research Methodology Consulting Center

  • Research Methodology Consulting Center
    140 Wulling Hall
    86 Pleasant St SE
    Minneapolis, MN 55455-0221

  • nicko013@umn.edu
Yellow background

Areas of interest

Educational and psychological measurement
Study design for causal inferencing
Tools for promoting reproducible research
Positive youth development

Degrees

PhD, Quantitative Methods in Education, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
BA, Psychology, University of Notre Dame

Biography

As a research methodologist whose expertise is in quantitative methods, my goal is to continuously improve the methodological rigor of education research so decisions based on findings can be made with confidence. Accomplishing this goal takes a variety of forms.

One form is developing tools, including R packages and resource guides, to assist researchers when creating or evaluating educational and psychological assessments. High-quality study design and analytic plans can be undermined in the presence of poor measurement.

Another aspect is providing consultations to faculty, staff, and graduate students on topics ranging from study design (e.g., randomization, propensity scores) and data analysis approaches (e.g., multilevel and longitudinal modeling) to reproducibility through project documentation and statistical programming. I also collaborate with research labs, school districts, and educational organizations to assist with organizing data collection, management, and analysis systems to efficiently transform raw data into information tailored for specific audiences and purposes.

A final aspect is participation on grant proposals and subsequently funded research projects. Most of these projects have centered on promoting positive youth development in educational settings both in the United States and internationally. I am also an investigator with the Minnesota Youth Development Research Group.

R Packages

Nickodem, K., Halpin, P. F., & Abulela, M. A. A. (Under development). DIFreport: Conduct DIF analyses, examine impact on treatment effects, and generate reports [R Package]. https://github.com/knickodem/DIFreport 

Nickodem, K. & Halpin, P. F. (2022). kfa: K-fold cross-validation for factor analysis [R Package]. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/kfa/index.html 

Brown, E., Zieffler, A., Nickodem, K., Vue, K., Anderson, E., & Sandidge, R. (2016). QME: Classical test theory item analysis [R package]. https://github.com/zief0002/QME 

Publications

Fike, K. J. & Nickodem, K. (Under Review). Differential item functioning in racial discrimination and altruism scales among Black adolescents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

Gao, Y., Nickodem, K., Wang X., & Espelage, D. L. (Under Review). Validation of attitudes toward women scale for adolescents (AWSA) in Chinese secondary school students: Factor structure, measurement invariance, and demographic correlates. Sex Roles.

Fike, K., Mattis, J., Nickodem, K., & Guillaume, C. (2023). Black adolescent altruism: Exploring the role of racial discrimination and empathy. Children and Youth Services Review. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106990

Espelage, D. L., Rose, C., Nickodem, K., Robinson, L., El Sheikh, A., Hanebutt, R., …, Poekert, P. (2023). Pilot evaluation of disability anti-bullying (DIAL) training for elementary special and general education teachers: Impact on teacher self-efficacy, attitudes toward bullying, and student outcomes. International Journal of Bully Prevention. doi:10.1007/s42380-023-00168-8

Espelage, D. L., Kuehl, T., Wyman, P., Nickodem, K., Valido, A., Mintz, S., Robinson, L. E., Merrin, G. J., Schmeelk-Cone, K., LoMurray, S., Ingram, K. M., Rulison, K., Hoagland, K., & Woolweaver, A. (2023). An RCT of sources of strength high school primary prevention program on sexual violence perpetration and victimization and dismissiveness of sexual harassment. School Psychology Review. doi:10.1080/2372966X.2022.2164460

Nickodem, K. K., Basile, K. C., Espelage, D. L., Leemis, R. W., Ingram, K. M., & Barbero, C. (2023). Sports participation, social networks, and sexual violence perpetration. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(1–2), NP1690–NP1717. doi:10.1177/08862605221092067

Cooper, D. K., & Nickodem, K. (2021). Cumulative lifetime adversity in a national sample of Hispanic/Latino immigrants: Exploring construct validity across six Hispanic/Latino groups using data from the HCHS/SOL Sociocultural Ancillary Study. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 44(4), 348-361. doi:10.1177/0163278720910470

Terrell, C. R., Nickodem, K., Bates, A., Kersten, C., Mernitz, H. (2021). Game-based activities targeting visual literacy skills to increase understanding of biomolecule structure and function concepts in undergraduate biochemistry. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 49(1), 94-107. doi:10.1002/bmb.21398

Davenport, E. C., Nickodem, K., Davison, M., Phillips, G., & Graham, E. (2020). The relative performance index: Neutralizing Simpson’s paradox. The American Statistician, 74(2), 116 - 124. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2018.1451777

Xiong, Z. B., Nickodem, K., St. Charles, J., Lee, S-K., Braughton, J., Vue, C., & Lo, N. (2019). Influence of perceived parental involvement on Hmong children’s academic performance. Hmong Studies Journal, 20, 1-39.

Nickodem, K., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2018). Criterion-referenced interpretation. In B. B. Frey (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Metzger, K. J., Montplaisir, D., Haines, D., & Nickodem, K. (2018). Investigating undergraduate health sciences students’ acceptance of evolution using MATE and GAENE. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 11(10), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-018-0084-8

Presentations

Dong, N., Kelcey, B., Spybrook, J. K., & Nickodem, K. (2024, April). Statistical power for moderation in three-level multisite individual randomized trials. [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

Nickodem, K., Halpin, P. F., & Tubbs Dolan, C. (2023, April). K-fold cross validation for factor analysis. [Paper presentation]. National Council on Measurement in Education annual meeting, Chicago IL.

Nickodem, K., Rodriguez, M. C., Lamm, R., & Park, K. (2019, April). Social-emotional learning ICCs and associations with school composition and achievement. [Paper presentation] National Council on Measurement in Education annual meeting, Toronto, ON. https://hdl.handle.net/11299/202393

Rodriguez, M. C. & Nickodem, K. (2018, April). Comprehensive partitioning of student achievement variance to inform equitable policy design. [Paper presentation] National Council on Measurement in Education annual meeting, New York, NY.

Nickodem, K., Wang, Q., Davenport, E. C., Culpepper, S. (2015, August). Using geometry to visualize abstract aspects of statistical formulae relevant to correlation and regression. [Paper presentation] American Statistical Association’s annual Joint Statistical Meetings, Seattle, WA.