Social Research Methodology (SRM) Student Directory

The Division of Social Research Methodology (SRM) is committed to the study and practice of methods of inquiry in educational and social research. The SRM curriculum emphasizes conceptualization of applied problems, design and conduct of research and evaluation, development and application of new methodological techniques, and analysis and interpretation of data in the context of educational theory and practice. The research interests and expertise of the faculty are broadly grouped into three areas of emphasis: quantitative methods, qualitative methods, and applied methods and program evaluation. However, these areas do not constitute formal tracks of study within the program. Student programs of study in the SRM program are highly individualized in accordance with student research interests and academic and professional needs.

Doctoral Student Directory Request Form

Year Entered Program: 2024 – 2025

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kaylateng2002@g.ucla.edu

Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Specialization

  • Advanced Quantitative Methods

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

  • Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST)

Advisor

Li Cai

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Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Teresa L. McCarty

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Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez

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Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Minjeong Jeon

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Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez

Year Entered Program: 2023 – 2024

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Year Entered Program
2024

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez

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Year Entered Program
2023

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Minjeong Jeon

Year Entered Program: 2022 – 2023

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Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Christina A. Christie

Kristen Rohanna

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Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez

Andrés Fernández-Vergara

CV

Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Andrés is a doctoral student in the Social Research Methodology Division at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies. His work has focused on evaluating educational policies and programs in Chile and Latin America. He has researched and published about the relationships between literacy policies, bibliodiversity, and economic concentration in the publishing industry in Latin America. Prior to starting his Ph.D. studies, he taught Causal Inference and Data Analysis at Universidad de Chile. He is co-founder and consultant at the research-oriented Chilean non-profit NGO ‘Fundación Co-Crecer’.

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Policy and Program Evaluation
  • Reading and literacy programs
  • Comparative Educational Policy in Latin America
  • Measurement and Evaluation

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

  • Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance Award
  • Beca Chile para Doctorados en el Extranjero 2022
  • Beca Chile para Magíster Nacional 2016

Education

  • Master’s in Public Policy and Management — Universidad de Chile
  • BSc. in Industrial Engineering — Universidad de Chile

Publications

Research Centers

  • Center for Community Schooling

Advisor

Jose-Felipe Martinez

nstephen12@g.ucla.edu | LinkedIn | CV

Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Hi! My name is Naomi Stephen, and I am a 3rd year Ph.D. student. My concentration is program evaluation, looking at how we evaluate grants and programs, specifically through qualitative research. My research interests include evaluation theory, research on evaluation, K-12 education, and wraparound services. I currently work on a grant focused on evaluating a program aimed at increasing diversity in the biomedical field. I also serve as a student representative for the Social Research Methodology division and a TA for the undergraduate course ED107A which focuses on race, class, and gender inequities in U.S. Schools. In my (very limited) free time, I also enjoy playing games, dancing, and spending time with friends!

Specialization

  • Program Evaluation

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Program Evaluation
  • Evaluation Theory
  • Inequities in Education
  • Qualitative Methods

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

  • University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Ph.D. in Education: Social Research Methodology, September 2022- Present, Concentration: Evaluation
  • Masters in Education: Social Research Methodology, September 2022- June 2023, Concentration: Evaluation
  • University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Bachelor of Arts: International Development, September 2018-June 2021, Minor: Education Studies

Publications

  • Alkin, M. C., Stephen, N. A., & Christie, C. A., (2023). “Theory Influencing Practice” in Alkin M.C. & Christie, C.A. Evaluation Roots: Theory Influencing Practice (3rd edition). Guilford Press: New York.
  • Alkin, M. C., Christie, C. A., & Stephen, N. A. (2021). Choosing an Evaluation Theory: A Supplement to Evaluation Roots (3rd Edition). Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 17(41), 51–60.

Research Centers

Advisor

Marvin C. Alkin

Christina A. Christie

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Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Li Cai

shivani729@g.ucla.edu

Year Entered Program
2022

Student Bio

Shivani is a qualitative scholar in the Social Research Methods division of the Education Department. She is thrilled to be working with Dr. Ananda Marin and is specifically interested in using video-based micro-ethnographic methods to explore teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms. Prior to UCLA, Shivani was a Special Education teacher in NYC and prior to teaching, Shivani worked in community organizing. Shivani’s research focuses on the design of affect-based reserach methods to explore and support the development of teachers’ in-the-moment decision making purposefully oriented toward justice for students of color with disabilites. Currently, Shivani is supporting the first cohort of Education Specialist novices within the Teacher Education Program at UCLA.

Specialization

  • Qualitative Research, Micro-Ethnographic Methods, Design-Based Research

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Learning Sciences
  • Teacher Development
  • Affect-Based Research & Teaching Methods
  • Students of Color With Disabilites
  • DisCrit

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

  • Eugene V. Cota-Robles Award
  • Antonia H. Rostami Fellowship
  • Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Award

Education

  • B.A Biochemistry, Vassar College
  • M.A. Teaching & Special Education, Relay Gradutae School of Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Ananda M. Marin

Year Entered Program: 2021 – 2022

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Year Entered Program
2021

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Noreen M. Webb

Brian Zamora

brizamora68@gmail.com

Year Entered Program
2021

Student Bio

I am a Chicano doctoral student in the Social Research Methodology division with lifelong roots to the San Fernando Valley. I rely on this social location to develop a multidisciplinary line of research that aims to broaden conventional conceptions of learning spaces and pedagogical settings.
My research draws from methodological and epistemological traditions in education, cultural and urban geography, and Chicano studies to engage active productions of place-based knowledge that emerge from within urbanized and racialized communities in Los Angeles. I focus on this relation in tandem with neoliberalism to investigate knowledge production in formal and informal educational sites. I envision foregrounding this inquiry through critical qualitative and visual research methods.
I pique my creative and academic interests through my interests in film photography. Outside of class, you might find me on campus listening to Nipsey Hussle, Nas, or the occasional corrido.

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Critical pedagogy
  • Social foundations of education
  • Critical qualitative methods
  • Decolonial education research

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

  • Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow
  • Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Fellow

Education

  • Critical Social Research Methodology, BA, 2021

Advisor

Teresa L. McCarty

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Year Entered Program
2021

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Inmaculada Ma García-Sánchez

Lizzet Rojas

lizrojas@g.ucla.edu | LinkedIn

Year Entered Program
2021

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Program evaluation applications and utilization
  • Continuous improvement and improvement science
  • Communities of practice
  • Use of critical frameworks and evaluation for advancing equity
  • Student transition and achievement in postsecondary institutions

Education

  • M.A. in Educational Psychology, California State University, Long Beach
  • M.P.A. in Public Administration, California State University, Long Beach
  • B.A. in Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Centers

Advisor

Jose-Felipe Martinez

Year Entered Program: 2020 – 2021

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Year Entered Program
2020

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Ananda M. Marin

Teresa L. McCarty

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Year Entered Program
2020

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Jose-Felipe Martinez

Michael Seltzer

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Year Entered Program
2020

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Li Cai

Year Entered Program: 2019 – 2020

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Year Entered Program
2019

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Christina A. Christie

Carola Suarez-Orozco

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Year Entered Program
2019

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Christina A. Christie

Jose-Felipe Martinez

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Year Entered Program
2019

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Minjeong Jeon

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Year Entered Program
2019

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Christina A. Christie

Jose-Felipe Martinez

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Year Entered Program
2019

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Li Cai

Year Entered Program: 2018 – 2019

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Year Entered Program
2018

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Minjeong Jeon

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kmhe@ucla.edu

Year Entered Program
2018

Student Bio

Kyle Halle-Erby studies language policy and planning using critical Black and Indigenous frameworks. He is a Cota Robles Fellow (2018-2022), a Haynes Lindley Dissertation Research Fellow (2022-2023), and a Spencer/National Academy of Education Dissertation Fellow (2023-2024).

Specialization

  • Ethnography
  • Qualitative Methods

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

  • Stanford University, MA
  • Tufts University, BA

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Teresa L. McCarty

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Year Entered Program
2018

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Christina A. Christie

Jose-Felipe Martinez

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Year Entered Program
2018

Student Bio

Teaching and Research Interests

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships

Education

Publications

Research Centers

Advisor

Li Cai

Mark Hansen

Contact Us

Division Administrative Assistant

Susanna Guerrero
(310) 206-9393

Student Ambassadors

Amanda Giuliano
Andrés Fernández Vergara
Ryan Lerch
Lizzet Rojas
Flora Zempleni

srmreps@gmail.com