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I am a trained sociologist whose academic work examined how people navigate education and work when opportunities are limited or uncertain. I focused on students who do not follow traditional college pathways, with particular attention to young mothers living on low incomes. I sought to understand how people make educational decisions in the context of disrupted lives and within an increasingly complex postsecondary system that includes community colleges, technical programs, and for-profit institutions. I also examined how employers interpret different types of educational credentials, helping to clarify what degrees signal in the labor market and how those signals shape opportunity.

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I completed my PhD in Sociology and Social Policy at Harvard University, where my goal was to produce research that could support greater equity in educational outcomes. My training combined deep engagement with scholarship on social and economic inequality with work on the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project. The RISK team included both sociologists and clinical psychologists, which expanded my perspective beyond the study of formal institutions and highlighted the role of personal narratives, social support, and meaning-making in persistence and recovery after disaster-related trauma.

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I take a multimethod approach to understanding the world and am especially interested in research design and qualitative methods. I am attentive to how people understand and tell their own stories, and to how research evidence can be produced in ways that are transparent, ethical, and useful for real-world decision making.

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Since completing my PhD, my work has bridged academic research, applied program evaluation, and systematic analysis of administrative data. I focus on generating evidence that reflects real-world constraints while remaining rigorous and human-centered. This work has included assessing and improving federal performance data and measures; establishing conceptual frameworks and theories of change; developing learning agendas; and overseeing traditional research and evaluation studies.

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Peer Reviewed Publications

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Flexible Coding of In-Depth Interviews
A 21st Century Approach

Nicole M. Deterding and Mary C. Waters

2021. Sociological Methods and Research 50 (2): 708-739.

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Abstract

Qualitative coding procedures based on grounded theory methods were limited by technologies of the 1960s: colored pens, scissors, and index cards. Today, electronic documents can be flexibly stored, retrieved, and cross-referenced using qualitative data analysis (QDA) software. We argue the oft-cited grounded theory framework poorly fits many features of contemporary sociological interview studies, including large samples, coding by teams, and mixed-method analysis. The grounded theory approach also hampers transparency and does not facilitate re-analysis or secondary analysis of interview data. We begin by summarizing grounded theory’s assumptions about coding and analysis. We then analyze published articles from ASA flagship journals, demonstrating that current conventions for semi-structured interview studies depart from the grounded theory framework. Based on experience analyzing interview data, we suggest steps in data organization and analysis to better utilize QDA technology. Our goal is to support rigorous, transparent, and flexible analysis of in-depth interview data. We end by discussing strengths and limitations of our 21st century approach.
 

• Recorded Webinar from the American Sociological Association Professional Development Webinar series, December 2019.  

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Lessons from the Social Innovation Fund
Supporting Evaluation to Assess Program Effectiveness and Build a Body of Research Evidence

Lily Zandniapour and Nicole M. Deterding

2018. American Journal of Evaluation, 39 (1):27-41.

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Abstract

Tiered evidence initiatives are an important federal strategy to incentivize and accelerate the use of rigorous evidence in planning, implementing, and assessing social service investments. The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, adopted a public–private partnership approach to tiered evidence. What was learned from implementing this ambitious program? How can large funding initiatives promote evaluation capacity in smaller organizations and evidence building in a sector broadly, increasing knowledge about how to address important social problems? And what can evaluators and evaluation technical assistance providers not working within a tiered evidence framework learn from the SIF? We provide an overview of the SIF model and describe how the fund operationalized “evidence building.” Materials developed to support SIF grantees represent practical, best practice strategies for successfully completing rigorous, relevant evaluations. Key lessons from overseeing over 130 evaluations—and their utility for other local evaluators—are discussed.

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The Emotional Cost of Distance
Geographic Social Network Dispersion and Post-traumatic Stress in Survivors of Hurricane Katrina

Katherine Ann Morris and Nicole M. Deterding

2016. Social Science and Medicine, 165 (1):56-65.

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Abstract
Social networks offer important emotional and instrumental support following natural disasters. However, displacement may geographically disperse network members, making it difficult to provide and receive support necessary for psychological recovery after trauma. We examine the association between distance to network members and post-traumatic stress using survey data, and identify potential mechanisms underlying this association using in-depth qualitative interviews. We use longitudinal, mixed-methods data from the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project to capture the long-term effects of Hurricane Katrina on low-income mothers from New Orleans. Baseline surveys occurred approximately one year before the storm and follow-up surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted five years later. We use a sequential explanatory analytic design. With logistic regression, we estimate the association of geographic network dispersion with the likelihood of post-traumatic stress. With linear regressions, we estimate the association of network dispersion with the three post-traumatic stress sub-scales. Using maximal variation sampling, we use qualitative interview data to elaborate identified statistical associations. We find network dispersion is positively associated with the likelihood of post-traumatic stress, controlling for individual-level socio-demographic characteristics, exposure to hurricane-related trauma, perceived social support, and New Orleans residency. We identify two social-psychological mechanisms present in qualitative data: respondents with distant network members report a lack of deep belonging and a lack of mattering as they are unable to fulfill obligations to important distant ties. Results indicate the importance of physical proximity to emotionally-intimate network ties for long-term psychological recovery.

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Educational Authority in the "Open Door" Marketplace
Labor Market Consequences of For-profit, Nonprofit, and Fictional Educational Credentials

Nicole M. Deterding and David S. Pedulla (Equal Authorship)

2016. Sociology of Education, 89 (3): 155-170.

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Abstract

In recent years, private for-profit education has been the fastest growing segment of the U.S. postsecondary system. Traditional hiring models suggest that employers clearly and efficiently evaluate college credentials, but this changing institutional landscape raises an important question: How do employers assess credentials from emerging institutions? Building on theories of educational authority, we hypothesize that employers respond to an associate’s degree itself over the institution from which it came. Using data from a field experiment that sent applications to administrative job openings in three major labor markets, we found that employers responded similarly to applicants listing a degree from a fictional college and applicants listing a local for-profit or nonprofit institution. There is some evidence that educational authority is incomplete, but employers who prefer degree-holders do not appear to actively evaluate institutional quality. We conclude by discussing implications of our work for research on school to labor market links within the changing higher education marketplace.

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• Short Form: Understanding Employers' Responses to For-profit Colleges. ASA Work in Progress Blog, invited contribution.

• Podcast: Does it Matter Where You Get Your Two-year Degree? Poverty Research and Policy Podcast. Institute for Research on Poverty at University Wisconsin-Madison.
   

Instrumental and Expressive Education
College Planning in the Face of Poverty

Nicole M. Deterding

2015. Sociology of Education, 88 (4): 284-301.

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Abstract

Nearly all young people in the United States aspire to a college degree, but many do not complete college in a timely manner. Does this lack of attainment reflect abandoned college plans? I analyze mixed-methods data from a five-year study of 700 low-income mothers at two Louisiana community colleges. Hurricane Katrina displaced respondents and interrupted their college educations; respondents had to decide whether, how, and why to return to school. Few women earned degrees during the study, but survey data indicate that rates of reenrollment and intentions to complete were high. Interview data reveal the cultural logics supporting continued plans for a return to college. Instrumentally, respondents believed education would result in better employment. Expressively, the moral status afforded students supported respondents’ narratives of upward mobility despite the difficulties they faced. The logic of human capital investment dominates policy and academic discussions of education’s value, but I find the symbolic meaning of a college degree also shapes plans for college return and college decision making long into adulthood. Plans to return persist long beyond the objective probability of earning a degree, and despite respondents’ difficult experiences, due to the expressive value college plans add to these young women’s lives.

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Widening the Net

National Estimates of Gender Disparities in Engineering

Clemencia Cosentino de Cohen and Nicole M. Deterding
2009. Journal of Engineering Education, 98 ​(3): 211-226.

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Abstract

This paper explores the causes behind the severe under-representation of women in engineering. Based on national data on undergraduate engineering programs, this study presents cross-sectional estimates of male and female student retention. Contrary to widespread beliefs, the study found that overall and in most disciplines there is no differential attrition by gender. Instead, results suggest that gender disparities in engineering are largely driven by inadequate enrollment (not inadequate retention) of women. The paper concludes that outreach—within institutions of higher education, across institutions (into two-year colleges, middle and high schools), and into K-12 curricular reform—are needed to address what is, at its very core, a recruitment problem.​​​