John C. Flournoy, PhD

Social Scientist, Methods Geek—Currently open to consulting and full-time work

An illustrated portrait of my face, smiling, by Sâmara Lígia

I am a research scientist who builds and validates measures of psychological and health constructs, and models how they change over time. That work has spanned adolescent development and developmental neuroimaging, outcomes measurement at True Life Center (an outpatient psychiatry clinic), and the well-being of software developers and other technologists at work. My unique perspective and skillset comes from:

Deep methodological and empirical rigor (which has primarily meant statistical rigor to me), with particular strength in Bayesian modeling using Stan and brms in R
A PhD in psychology and background as a neuroscientist, specializing in adolescent development, stress, and well-being
A strong focus on both empirical and conceptual rigor, integrating quantitative methods with philosophical frameworks and qualitative discovery

My research approach stands out through:

Advanced statistical modeling and uncertainty quantification across diverse data sources - clinical assessment batteries and neuroimaging, traditional surveys and experiments, and incidental observational data like Jira tickets
Scale development and item-level psychometrics - Bayesian item response models to build instruments, and to shorten existing batteries without losing the information practitioners actually use
Extensive experience with longitudinal data at various cadences, and with prediction that carries honest uncertainty rather than a single number
Deep commitment to construct validity and philosophical foundations, shaped profoundly by works like Alexandrova’s “A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being”.

Flournoy, J. C., Lee, C. S., Wu, M., & Hicks, C. M. (2025). No silver bullets: Why understanding software cycle time is messy, not magic. Empirical Software Engineering, 30(6), 174.Alexandrova, A. (2017). A philosophy for the science of well-being. Oxford university press.

I strive to be effective through this intimate dialogue between our numeric approach, our theory, and our philosophy of the phenomena of interest.