Graham Rifenbark

Scientist-IPARRT

Dr. Rifenbark is an Associate Research Scientist, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison. To date, he has secured a total $1.6 million as Co-PI from external funders such as the Institute of Educational Sciences, as well as $10.8 million as Key Personnel (Statistician, Psychometrician, Evaluator) from National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Besides the aforementioned grant projects, Dr. Rifenbark has provided his methodological expertise on over ten research grants and contracts stemming from Federal and State sources since 2011. Such efforts have resulted in 40 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. Dr. Rifenbark's methodological expertise is on latent variables methods with a research line focused on structural equation modeling (SEM), toward this end he routinely conducts Monte Carlo simulations. Specifically, this research aims to evaluate existing methods and to develop new approaches for detecting structural misspecifications; as well as investigating SEM estimation in the context of limited sample sizes. Another goal of his methodological research is to close the gap between quantitative and applied researchers by publishing best practices to guide applied research.

Contact Information

rifenbark@wisc.edu
Office: 746 Ed Sciences

Current Projects