Eric
Hedberg, Ph.D.
Dr. Eric C. Hedberg is a quantitative sociologist with 20 years of experience working to improve the design of impact evaluations in education, health, and criminology. Hedberg has worked with several federal statistical agencies, including several divisions of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at The Department of Education. His substantive research focuses on promoting positive outcomes—or preventing negative outcomes—for youth.
Hedberg’s work as a quantitative solutions architect involves building rigorous and resource-efficient data analysis products to meet client needs. His work in producing research tools and resources for agencies like IES and NSF has helped improve a wide variety of both experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations. Hedberg’s research alongside Professor Larry Hedges from Northwestern University on design parameters has generated over 1,000 citations in published works and many other uses in other researchers’ funding applications (Google Scholar). At Abt, Hedberg continues his grant work with IES in addition to supporting projects across Human Services accounts.
Hedberg started his career as a research assistant at NORC at the University of Chicago in 2003, where he left as a principal data scientist in 2021. He also served as a tenure-track professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Director of Research at the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, both at Arizona State University. Hedberg has authored and co-authored over 30 methodology-focused papers and books that have appeared in education, medical, and criminological journals, while also contributing to numerous reports and presentations at major research conferences. He has also authored a SAGE “little green” book on statistical power analysis. Previous work includes randomized trials and quasi-experimental studies on a variety of topics, including inter-gang violence, early childhood reading, youth violence reduction, and law enforcement accountability.
Expertise:
- Planning quantitative impact studies
- Estimating parameters useful for planning quantitative impact studies
- Analysis of complex survey data
- Social network analysis
- Stata programming
Key Projects:
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Principal Investigator & Project Director Deriving and Developing Tools to Estimate Optimal Data Points for Quasi-Experimental Designs, Institute of Education Sciences, The Department of Education.
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Co-Principal Investigator & Project Director, Improving Evaluations of STEM Programs: An Empirical Investigation of Key Design Parameters, National Science Foundation, The Department of Education.
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Principal Investigator & Project Director, Understanding Opportunities for Arizona English Language Learner (ELL) Students, Helios Education Foundation.
Publications:
- Hedges, L. V., & Hedberg, E. C. (2007). Intraclass correlation values for planning group-randomized trials in education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 29(1), 60-87.
- Hedberg, E. C., Katz, C. M., & Choate, D. E. (2017). Body-worn cameras and citizen interactions with police officers: Estimating plausible effects given varying compliance levels. Justice quarterly, 34(4), 627-651.
- Hedberg, E. C. (2017). Introduction to Power Analysis: Two Group Studies. Book in the Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series. SAGE.
- Katz, C. M., Hedberg, E. C., & Amaya, L. E. (2016). Gang truce for violence prevention, El Salvador. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 94(9), 660.
- Hedberg, E. C., & Hedges, L. V. (2014). Reference values of within-district intraclass correlations of academic achievement by district characteristics: Results from a meta-analysis of district-specific values. Evaluation Review, 38(6), 546-582.
