Harris Cooper
Interim Dean of the Social Sciences

Harris Cooper is the Hugo L. Blomquist Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Cooper served as the Chair of the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke (2009 -2014) and the Director of Duke Program in Education (2003-2008).

Cooper’s research interests follow two paths. The first concerns research synthesis and research methodology. His book, Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis: A Step-by-Step Approach (2017) is in its 5^th edition. He is Editor-in-Chief of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology (2012). The Handbook includes over 100 chapters on various aspects of research design and analysis, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research.

Cooper also studies the application of social and developmental psychology to education policy. He has studied homework for over 25 years. His research on homework has had an impact on schools nationwide. He and his students also study the effects of school calendars and calendar variations on students and their families. Most recently, they have turned their attention to research on how well and with what affect students can grade their own and their peers’ academic work.

From 1992 to 1998, Cooper served as an elected member of the Columbia, MO, Board of Education. In 1997, he won the American Educational Research Association’s Award for Interpretive Scholarship for his article “Speaking Power to Truth: Reflections of an Educational Researcher after Four Years of School Board Service.” Dr. Cooper served on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Use of Social Science Knowledge in Public Policy (2007-2012).

After serving as editor of the APA’s most prestigious journal, Psychological Bulletin, Cooper was the Chief Editorial Advisor for its journals program (2009-2015). He served as a resource to 70+ editors as well as the mediator of disputes between editors and authors and between authors and authors. Cooper’s book, Ethical Choices in Research: Managing Data, Writing Reports, and Publishing Results in the Social Sciences (2016), draws from this experience as well as a scholarly examination of the literature.

Email: socscidean@duke.edu
Phone: (919) 668-2746
Fax: (919) 668-2729

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Duke University
102 Allen Building
Box 90029
Durham North Carolina 27708-0029