Quantitative Methods and Computational Psychology

The program in Quantitative Methods and Computational Psychology (QMCP) at USC trains students in both the basics and the advances in methodological, statistical, and computational tools to study human behavior. Students work closely with their primary advisor to develop an area of research expertise, while often also developing additional lines of research with other faculty in the department. Our program focuses on the development of strong research skills, including basic statistics, robust statistics, multivariate measurement, multilevel and longitudinal data analysis, experimental design and methods, decision making, cumulative reviews, behavior and molecular genetics, We teach and encourage computer programming of all types (e.g., SAS, SPSS, R) as well as train students about new advances in computational modeling (LISREL, Mplus, CART, Keras). We emphasize the application of these research skills to matters of real-world importance needed for any topical area of behavioral science. We encourage our students to work within other areas of the department to gain additional skills and expertise such as neuroimaging techniques, aging research designs, social psychology experiments, cognitive survey research, and developmental principles.