Joop Hox


Josephus Johannes Cornelis Maria Hox is a Dutch psychologist and Professor of Social Science Methodology at the Utrecht University, known for his work in the field of social research method such as survey research and multilevel modeling.

Biography

Hox attended the Bisschoppelijk College Roermond from 1962 to 1968, and the Whitman College from 1968 to 1969. After receiving his MS in psychology, he received his PhD in 1986 from the University of Amsterdam under supervision of Don Mellenbergh with a thesis, entitled "Het gebruik van hulptheorieën bij operationalisering: een studie rond het begrip subjectief welbevinden". In 1990 was a Fulbright scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles.
From 1977 to 1996 Hox was Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam at the department of Gerard de Zeeuw. In 1997 he was appointed Professor of Social Science Methodology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Utrecht University, which he started with the inaugural lecture, entitled "nieuws onder de zon: nieuwe oplossingen voor oude problemen". One of his PhD students is Ger Snijkers. Hox also participates in the Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Socio Metrics and chaired the Netherlands Organization for Social-Methodological Research.

Work

Hox's research interests lie in the field of quality assurance of survey research and multilevel analysis of hierarchically structured data. In multi-level analysis it is assumed that the data to be investigated has hierarchical or layered structure. Special modeling techniques have been developed to map this kind of data. These techniques can often significantly improve the quality of the obtained survey data.

Selected publications

Hox published several books and numerous articles. A selection:
Articles, a selection: