Diego`s research aims to address this issue by improving the methods used in systematic reviews and meta-analyses in educational research.
─ This will make systematic reviews and meta-analyses more efficient and accurate, ultimately empowering researchers, teachers, and policymakers to access robust evidence to guide new interventions or policies and help students learn.
Rapid quality
Diego explains that traditionally, researchers have spent hours sifting through mountains of papers to find evidence for a particular research question, such as the most effective methods for addressing digital education inequalities. His research explores new techniques using machine learning algorithms to streamline this process. It's like giving researchers a powerful search engine to quickly find the most relevant educational research on a specific topic.
But speed isn't the only benefit, he continues:
─ My work also helps to ensure the quality of the evidence that researchers rely on. I have described and applied a methodological framework that allows researchers to synthesize evidence from large data sources. This can be used to get a clearer picture of things like inequalities in digital education, even when studies use different approaches. As a result, we have more robust evidence for policy decisions that can contribute to reducing such inequalities.
In the end, Diego explains that his research is about empowering researchers, teachers, and policymakers so they can help students thrive. By making systematic reviews and meta-analyses more efficient and trustworthy, we can focus on using the strongest evidence to improve educational systems.
A look at education through the eyes of a psychologist
Diego holds a B.Sc. in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and an M.Sc. in Psychology: Learning Sciences at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität München.
─ I have always been involved with universities, either as a student or as a researcher. During my B.Sc., I participated in several research projects investigating the role of new technologies in learning, which was a lot of fun!
After graduating, he worked as a researcher at Andes University. They worked on some projects with the government, focusing on educational policy evaluation and piloting an evaluation system to gather information on children's cognitive development.
─ Our goal was to create a system of alerts that could provide additional resources to children who may require more help. It was a great opportunity to directly inform educational policy and something I would still like to do at some point.
New methods for better quality
Diego has always been passionate about bridging the gap between research and society. He believes systematic reviews and meta-analyses are great research techniques for helping inform society about research findings. However, traditional methods used in systematic reviews and meta-analyses are often limited by the large volume of available publications and the limited information in published papers.
─ My goal was to improve the methods for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses to help researchers, educators, and policymakers better understand what works best in education.
So what are some of the most significant current findings in Diego`s research?
─ My research evaluates the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in accelerating the initial screening process of studies for systematic reviews in education. Machine learning can free up researchers' time and resources during the screening phase of a systematic review, thus allowing researchers to focus on more in-depth analyses during the systematic review process. Additionally, I've illustrated and applied a two-stage individual participant data meta-analysis approach that can be used to synthesize information from large-scale data sources.
Diego explains that the two-stage individual participant data meta-analysis approach helps overcome traditional challenges for synthesizing large-scale data, such as research design variations, complex sampling designs, and measurement invariance.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are essential tools for informing evidence-based practices in education. Diego`s research offers new methods to streamline these reviews and improve their quality. Improving the screening and synthesis of studies in systematic reviews and meta-analyses ultimately benefits students, teachers, and the education system by ensuring decisions are grounded in the most robust evidence.
Passion for research
─ I consider myself curious, and I sincerely believe education is a key tool for improving people's lives. I enjoy tackling open problems and finding ways to solve them or at least contribute to solving them. A great aspect of doing educational research is that by helping to solve a problem, I am also indirectly informing how we can improve education systems. So that is great!
Attending conferences and talking to colleagues are incredibly inspiring and that is a primary source of inspiration for Diego, he says. Additionally, reading papers is also a great way for him to get new ideas.
But what would he be doing if he weren’t working in research?
Diego would be interested in working within a governmental or non-governmental institution to develop and evaluate educational policies.
─ I believe it would be rewarding to influence the shaping of educational systems directly and contribute to constructing public educational policies using empirical research. Interestingly, I have already engaged in this kind of work during my PhD studies.
Diego says doing research is a lot of fun, but you also need to handle uncertainty. Attention to detail and discipline are important characteristics of a good researcher.
─Since we mostly work independently, being organized, disciplined and sticking to a personal schedule is key to making progress in our own research. We also encounter problems that do not have clear solutions, so being flexible and calm is useful. These are challenging virtues to live up to as a researcher, and at times even uncomfortable, but I hope to be able to further develop such dispositions in the future.