Nancy Alila

Psychometrician and doctoral researcher in Quantitative Methodology with an M.S. in Applied Statistics and experience in psychometric consulting, educational measurement, test development, and advanced quantitative research. Experienced in supporting licensure and certification examination programs through job/practice analysis, test blueprint development, item development, item calibration, form assembly, equating, scaling, standard setting, item-bank maintenance, and psychometric monitoring. Advanced training in Classical Test Theory, Item Response Theory, Diagnostic Classification Models, structural equation modeling, Bayesian estimation, and Monte Carlo simulation.

Experienced in calibrating and evaluating examination items using Winsteps, BILOG, PARSCALE, SAS, R, and SPSS. Provided psychometric consultation on comparing item difficulty across IRT and DCM frameworks and translating complex methodological findings into practical recommendations for researchers and stakeholders. Published researcher with experience presenting psychometric research at national and international conferences, including the National Council on Measurement in Education and the International Meeting of the Psychometric Society.

Strong background in workshop facilitation, teaching, technical reporting, client communication, project management, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Graduate Psychometrics Consultant - Quantitative Methods Consulting Center, University of Georgia - Athens, Georgia

(2025-08)

Provide psychometric and statistical consultation to faculty, graduate students, researchers, and project teams on research design, assessment development, survey development, statistical analysis, and interpretation of quantitative findings.

• Support licensure and certification examination activities, including job/practice analysis, survey development, focus groups, test blueprint development, examination specifications, item review, and validation.
• Facilitate examination-development workshops, technical meetings, and discussions with researchers, item writers, subject-matter experts, and other stakeholders.
• Provide guidance and training on item development, item-quality standards, content alignment, cognitive complexity, statistical interpretation, and examination-development procedures.
• Conduct Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory analyses, including item difficulty, item discrimination, item fit, test information, reliability, dimensionality, and differential item functioning.
• Calibrate dichotomous and polytomous items using Winsteps, BILOG, PARSCALE, SAS, and R.
• Support form assembly, equating, scaling, standard setting, psychometric monitoring, and item-bank maintenance.
• Evaluate item-bank content coverage, item performance, item exposure, statistical quality, and suitability for future examination forms.
• Support specialized examination-development procedures, including linear-on-the-fly testing and automated item generation.
• Conducted a psychometric consulting project comparing the conceptualization and measurement of item difficulty across Item Response Theory and Diagnostic Classification Model frameworks.
• Evaluated how differences in model assumptions and parameterizations affect item-difficulty estimates, item classifications, model fit, and interpretations of item performance.
• Advised researchers on the appropriate interpretation and comparability of item-difficulty information derived from IRT and DCM analyses.
• Translate complex psychometric findings into clear, actionable methodological recommendations for clients and stakeholders with varying levels of quantitative expertise.
• Collaborate with researchers throughout the research process, including study design, data management, statistical analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, conference presentations, technical reports, and grant proposals.
• Manage project milestones and analytical deliverables while maintaining methodological quality, documentation, and established timelines.

Ph.D. Research Assistant - University of Georgia - Athens, Georgia

(2023-08)

• Design and conduct large-scale Monte Carlo simulation studies to evaluate psychometric and statistical methods under diverse data-generating conditions.
• Develop regression-based adaptive thresholds for evaluating absolute model fit in Diagnostic Classification Models, accounting for sample characteristics, model complexity, attribute structures, and Q-matrix misspecification.
• Investigate the performance of Diagnostic Classification Models under model and Q-matrix misspecification to improve the accuracy and defensibility of educational and psychological assessments.
• Evaluate absolute, relative, residual-based, and limited-information model-fit statistics used in Diagnostic Classification Models.
• Examine the effects of Q-matrix underspecification, Q-matrix overspecification, model misspecification, sample size, test length, and model complexity on psychometric model performance.
• Conduct research on diagnostic assessment design and the development of test blueprints and examination specifications.
• Evaluate Bayesian estimation methods for latent-variable models under small-sample conditions, outlier contamination, heavy-tailed structural disturbances, and alternative prior specifications.
• Compare Bayesian and maximum-likelihood estimation methods using parameter bias, interval coverage, statistical power, interval width, and convergence criteria.
• Build and evaluate Structural Equation Modeling, Item Response Theory, Diagnostic Classification Model, and Bayesian latent-variable frameworks for educational and psychological research.
• Develop automated analytical workflows in R and Python for data generation, model estimation, simulation, model-fit evaluation, visualization, and reproducible reporting.
• Use high-performance computing environments to conduct computationally intensive simulation studies involving multiple experimental conditions and replications.
• Conduct systematic and narrative literature reviews to identify methodological gaps, evaluate existing psychometric approaches, and inform the development of new methods.
• Develop R Shiny applications and Tableau dashboards to communicate complex statistical findings to researchers and stakeholders.
• Prepare peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference proposals, technical reports, presentations, and reproducible research documentation.
• Present research findings at national and international conferences in psychometrics, educational measurement, and quantitative methodology.
• Collaborate with faculty members and research teams on methodological design, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and dissemination.

Data Analyst - Tourism Economics - Wayne, Pennsylvania

(2023-01 - 2023-08)

• Applied statistical methods and data-visualization techniques to analyze regional economic, tourism, and industry data.
• Developed interactive Tableau dashboards and technical reports to communicate analytical findings to clients and stakeholders.
• Conducted data validation, trend analysis, and interpretation to support evidence-based policy and strategic planning.
• Collaborated with multidisciplinary teams to develop analytical products and meet client deliverables.

Business and Advanced Analyst - Endo Pharmaceuticals

(2022-05 - 2022-12)

Analyzed large-scale healthcare, pharm

Ph.D. - Quantitative Methodology - University of Georgia (2023-08 - 2027-05)

M.S. - Applied Statistics - West Chester University of Pennsylvania (2023)

B.Ed. - Mathematics and Economics - Karatina University (2016)