David Torres Irribarra is a psychologist from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where he is currently an assistant professor at the School of Psychology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Quantative Methods and Evaluation from the University of California, Berkeley, and was director of information technologies at the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center.
Before studying at UC Berkeley, David worked as a researcher at the Measurement Center MIDE UC and as an analyst in national projects related to teacher evaluation such as “Asignación de Excelencia Pedagogica” and “DocenteMás”. As a graduate student his research focused on the use of statistical models for measurement in social sciences and particularly, the use of item response theory models in educational contexts.
As a part of his work in educational measurement, David has worked in research and consulting projects in Chile, Honduras, Perú and México.
His main research interests are (i) latent variable modeling, (ii) the theoretical foundations of assessment in social sciences and (iii) the application of digital technologies to improve measurement in education.