11.03.2025
In March 2025, Elisabeth Kraus started in her new position as Professor of Methods of Empirical Educational Research at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology at the University of Tübingen. Her focus is on psychometrics, machine learning, and evaluation. In a short interview with Rebecca Beiter, Kraus introduces her area of expertise and her motivation.
Beiter: How do you explain your field to someone who has never heard of it?
Kraus: My area of expertise is quantitative methods in educational research. This involves data that is collected in education research projects. I aim to analyse this data as well as possible. My focus is on measurement using questionnaires and tests. I am also researching how machine learning can be used for educational sciences.
Beiter: What motivates you personally?
Kraus: I am fascinated by recognizing deeper structures, making recurring patterns and correlations in data visible, and putting the findings to the test.
Beiter: If someone wants to get a good overview of your work, which of your publications should they read?
Kraus: If they are patient, I would recommend our forthcoming textbook ‘Machine Learning: an introduction for psychology, humanities and social sciences’. If you want to delve deeper, I recommend the publication ‘Using interpretable machine learning for differential item functioning detection in psychometric tests’.
Kraus, E. B., Wild, J., & Hilbert, S. (2024). Using Interpretable Machine Learning for Differential Item Functioning Detection in Psychometric Tests. Applied Psychological Measurement, 48 (4-5), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/01466216241238744
Profile of Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Kraus
Rebecca Beiter
Rebecca.Beiterspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de