Anthony Rodriguez is a senior behavioral scientist and quantitative psychologist/psychometrician at RAND. His research integrates psychometric methods, advanced quantitative modeling, and health outcomes research to improve measurement and evaluation across diverse populations. He specializes in latent variable modeling (SEM, EFA/CFA, IRT, LGM, [PP/MP] GMM, LCA/LPA) as well as applications within machine learning frameworks. His work also focuses on dimensionality, reliability, scoring, and the development of alternative IRT models to address non-normal latent traits and errors. He has also authored widely used didactic guides that make advanced psychometric methods accessible to applied researchers.
As principal/co-investigator on multiple federally funded projects, Rodriguez has developed/validated measures for emergency risk communication, palliative care quality, pain impact, and standardized assessment in post-acute care settings, and has led crosswalk development between PROMIS-29 and chronic pain legacy measures as well as the PROMIS-16. His substantive research focuses on health-related quality of life and sociodemographic disparities in longitudinal alcohol, cannabis, cigarette, vaping, and opioid use trajectories and their associations with physical and mental health, social functioning, and adult outcomes. Much of this work centers on underserved populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, youth experiencing homelessness, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities, including evaluations of culturally centered suicide prevention interventions. Rodriguez serves as the statistical and methodological expert for the RAND REACH Center and methodological expert for the NCREW program supporting Tribes and Native American Serving Organizations. He received his Ph.D. in quantitative psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ph.D. in quantitative psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
Spanish
