Graduation Year
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Educational and Psychological Studies
Major Professor
Nathaniel von der Embse, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Shannon Suldo, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Eunsook Kim, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Donald Kincaid, Ed.D.
Keywords
Informant Discrepancies, Multi-Informant Assessment, Operations Triad Model, School Mental Health
Abstract
Multi-informant assessment is a common method used by school psychologists to collect data on students' social-emotional and behavioral concerns across the three tiers of the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. While this data can provide a comprehensive understanding of student functioning, informant discrepancies are common, and little is known about how school psychologists make sense of discrepant data or whether using structured frameworks can support their interpretation. This dissertation used an experimental mixed-methods design with vignettes to examine how school psychologists interpret discrepant multi-informant social-emotional and behavioral assessment data and whether exposure to a structured framework influenced this process. A total of 100 school psychologists and school psychologist interns participated, with 57 assigned to the control group and 43 assigned to the experimental group. Participants in the experimental group viewed a training video introducing a simplified version of the Operations Triad Model (OTM) as a framework for interpreting multi-informant assessment data collected across the three tiers of MTSS. All participants reviewed three vignettes presenting multi-informant social, emotional, and behavioral data across MTSS tiers and responded to multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and open-ended questions. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and repeated-measure ANOVAs. Results suggest that participants across both groups were accurate in identifying discrepancies and demonstrated alignment with MTSS-based decision-making. However, themes generated from qualitative data suggested that participants in the control group used less descriptive approaches when interpreting discrepant data than those in the experimental group. Additionally, participants in the experimental group reported higher confidence and lower perceived difficulty when interpreting discrepant data, particularly for data scenarios representing a compensating operation. Overall, findings from the present study provide preliminary evidence that the OTM may support school psychologists in interpreting discrepant multi-informant SEB assessment data.
Scholar Commons Citation
Koza, Thomas, "Interpreting Discrepant Multi-Informant Data: Examining School Psychologists’ Decision-Making Processes with Social-Emotional and Behavioral Assessment" (2026). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11330
