William P. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D., shows how improved psychosocial measurement, standards, and data quality can lead to new and exciting possibilities for communicating quantitative information more clearly and meaningfully. His articulation of the dynamics of living capital metrics in the management of human, social, and natural assets brings new standards of scientific rigor, practicality, and convenience to these domains.
As a result of Dr. Fisher’s consultation and teaching, hundreds of managers, educators, clinicians, students, and researchers have experienced the “jaw-dropping effect” produced when they see their data anew in the light of scientifically rigorous, yet practical and flexible, probabilistic conjoint models for measurement.
Dr. Fisher was previously a Professor in the Departments of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, and Biometry & Genetics, at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. For six years before joining LSU, he was Senior Research Scientist for Program Evaluation at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital & Clinics in Wheaton, IL, serving on the Management Team, and on the Clinical Programs and Quality Assessment & Improvement Committees.
After completing the University of Chicago’s Social Sciences Divisional Master’s degree in 1984, William was a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow, earning a Ph.D. in Chicago’s Department of Education in 1988, concentrating in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis (MESA).
William is currently on the staff of the National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring, and on the Editorial Boards of Quality of Life Research (where he recently received special recognition for the quality of his peer reviews), and the Journal of Applied Measurement. He organized and hosted International Objective Measurement Workshops in 2000 and 2002, while at LSU HSC. His research has been presented in over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and in over 150 presentations at professional society meetings and academic lectures all over North America, as well as in Great Britain, France, Australia, and Hong Kong.
From left: William Fisher, Gregory Stone, Svetlana Beltyukova, Christine Fox, and Trevor Bond. Photo taken in April 2006 at Union Square, San Francisco during the AERA meetings there.
