Keirien Taylor

I use data to make sound decisions and draw conclusions that do not extrapolate beyond the data. When hard data are not available, I wait to make a decision, when possible, or critically evaluate what is known before making a decision.

My extensive training and experience have focused on obtaining and analyzing data. As a firm believer that days of statistical analyses cannot make-up for a missed hour of project design, I value the design process of generating good data. Indeed, some have suggested a revised refrain ”Good data or it didn’t happen.” Good data are data that answer the right question. Part of the design process involves updating measures and methods to answer the question and, in many cases, revising the question to address what we really want to know.

I have invested and continue to invest significant time and effort into developing quantitative and qual- itative analytic skills. I do this because it allows me to select the methods that best answer a research question. It also allows me to balance methodological rigor and practical constraints, but still obtain the most correct answer possible. My approach to data analysis is (paraphrasing Einstein) that data analysis should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.