Isabel Benítez Baena

Researcher at PsychometricLab (Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center — CIMCYC, Universidad de Granada) and lecturer in the Department of Methodology of Behavioural Sciences at the same university.

Isabel holds a degree in Psychology from the Universidad de Granada, where she also completed a Master's in Psychology of Social Intervention and a PhD in Psychology. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University (Netherlands) and an analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Before joining UGR, she was a researcher and lecturer at Universidad Loyola Andalucía.

Current work

Isabel's research focuses on analysing the usefulness of different procedures and designs for obtaining validity evidence within a mixed-methods approach. Her current projects explore how various procedures yield relevant information about response processes and the consequences of assessment, and how they can be incorporated into validation studies that aim to approach the target construct comprehensively. The studies she leads extend this evaluation across different contexts — educational assessment, the analysis of social phenomena, and clinical evaluation.

Motivations and inspirations

Isabel's biggest motivation is to generate evidence-based products that ease the work of researchers and practitioners in psychology. Methodology should serve not only to analyse data, but also to produce tools that improve the assessment of psychological and educational variables — and ultimately have an impact on people's quality of life.