Orie V. Kristel Ph.D., Principal

Academic Research Background | Dr. Orie Kristel earned a B.S. in psychology from Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and a M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from The Ohio State University. Social psychology uses the scientific method to better understand how individuals think, feel, and act in social situations. His academic training emphasized the measurement of attitudes and attitude strength, the power of accountability demands, the construction and application of research designs, and quantitative data analysis.

His Applied Research Background | Dr. Kristel completed his first market research project as a senior in college, when he collected and reported client satisfaction data for a medical care provider in the Philadelphia area. Ivory-tower trained and real-world experienced, he has 25 years of professional consulting experience with program evaluation, needs assessment, public opinion polling, product/concept testing, and brand research. His clients include a wide range of national and international businesses, state and local governmental agencies, and leading nonprofit organizations.

Some Personal Info | Always curious about how things work, Orie can often be found tinkering with his car or doing light electrical or plumbing work at home. His community activities include board service for several non-profit organizations in central Ohio. He is still celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles' 2018 Super Bowl victory.

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Amanda Scott Ph.D., Principal

Academic Research Background | Dr. Amanda Scott is a social psychologist whose academic training at The Ohio State University focused primarily on stereotyping, group behavior, and legal decision-making. Her dissertation topic was how stereotypes of victims can impact civil decisions in a legal context. She has additional academic training in the areas of attitude measurement, research design, and survey methodology.

Applied Research Background | Dr. Scott has more than 20 years of professional and consulting experience in applied research, including project management and statistical support to expert witnesses who conduct survey research in the context of class action litigation and serving as an expert witness herself. She has also served as a Social Science Research Advisor for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and interned at ODJFS’ Research and Evaluation department while a student at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Some Personal Info | Amanda serves on the Board Six Strings Concerts. She is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research and the American Society of Trial Consultants. She can often be found on local baseball and softball fields, watching one of her children play her family’s favorite game. Her favorite vacation is on the beach.

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Karen Hines Ph.D., Senior Researcher

Academic Research Background | Dr. Karen Hines earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in social psychology from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in psychology and a B.S. in Business Administration - Management from the University of Missouri. Specifically within the field of social psychology, Karen is interested in social cognitive processes such as attention and memory and how those influence judgments, decision-making, and behavior. She also received intensive training in research design and advanced quantitative data analysis.

Applied Research Background | She has 15 years of experience conducting social psychological research using multiple methods including quantitative surveys (online, mail, telephone, hybrid), one-on-one interviews, and focus groups across a variety of domains from experimental academic research to litigation support to community health to consumer insights. Dr. Hines has expertise in all steps of the research process including research design, research conduct/moderation, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and reporting. She is especially interested in helping individuals and organizations understand how to make their messaging clearer and more compelling and their products more user-friendly.

Some Personal Info | When not focusing on research, you can often find Karen spending time with her wonderful family, cooking, working crosswords, or around town exploring all Columbus has to offer.

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Stacie Carlton Researcher

Academic Research Background | Stacie Carlton earned a B.A. in Anthropology from Ohio University. Her specific branch of interest, cultural anthropology, trained her to the importance of understanding context and examining cultural behaviors from the perspectives of an insider and an outsider. As part of the Honors Tutorial College, she produced a senior thesis from fieldwork conducted in Barcelona, Spain. There she used her training in the methods of participant observation, in-depth interviewing, and textual analysis of physical and digital media to investigate the sources of tension between residents, tourists, and migrant workers in the tourism industry.

Applied Research Background | Stacie has spent the first three years of her career with Illuminology, performing qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and reporting. She has conducted interviews and focus groups with a wide range of individuals who form categories of consumers or groups within communities. She is experienced in organizing mass amounts of data into meaningful and digestible amounts of information for clients from health and social service programs and other community organizations to health care organizations, financial institutions, and manufacturing companies.

Some Personal Info | Much of her personal life consists of fawning over her panther-esque house cat, Michael, and theorizing about practices of everyday life. She enjoys consuming a diverse range of books, television, music, and foods. Ever fascinated by words, she likes learning foreign languages and googling the origins of colloquial phrases.

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Utku Akbay Researcher

Academic Research Background | Utku Akbay earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the Ohio State University. His academic training emphasized econometrics, quantitative data analysis, labor economics, firm decision optimization and game theory. He is eager to continue his education in pursuit of being a better researcher.

Applied Research Background | He conducted his first applied research project as a sophomore at Middle East Technical University which focused on the eating habits of students who were living on campus. School administration used his study to redirect their efforts in creating a healthier environment for the students. He now has 3 years of experience providing statistical analysis support to a wide range of clients.

Some Personal Info | Utku is a huge LEGO enthusiast, and he enjoys creating new designs using the bricks he has in his collection. You can often find him watching NBA games, playing PlayStation, and solving math problems.

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Eric Shaeffer Ph.D., Researcher

Academic Research Background | Dr. Eric Shaeffer earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in social psychology from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in psychology from Hope College. His academic research focused on optimal questionnaire design, attitude change, personal goal achievement, and how visual perspective in mental imagery shapes our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Applied Research Background | Over the last ten years, Dr. Shaeffer has used his skills in survey programming, cognitive interviewing, and interviewer training on a variety of market research, community needs assessment, and health surveys. His earliest experiences with applied research came when he was an enumerator for the U.S. Census Bureau and a site coordinator for the North American Student Smoking Survey, which is a longitudinal survey of high school students.

Some Personal Info | Eric serves on the board of his local Friends of the Library and uses his background in web design, social media, and email marketing to oversee member communications and online donations. His interests include spending time with his adopted poodle-mix and reading about early American magic, circus, and variety entertainment.

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Jessica Gonzalez Ph.D., Researcher

Academic Research Background | Dr. Jessica Gonzalez is a social psychologist by training with a strong background in human thought and behavior research. She earned a B.A. in biological basis of behavior from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from The Ohio State University. She was also the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Applied Research Background | Dr. Gonzalez has a highly adaptable set of research and analytical skills. Over the past 20 years, she has had the opportunity to apply her research expertise in a variety of domains, including customer experience, community-based health interventions, litigation support, and informal learning program evaluation.

Some Personal Info | Jessica currently lives in Buffalo, New York with her family and visits her hometown of Miami, Florida when she gets the chance. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, an avid reader, and has recently discovered the excitement of Formula 1 racing.

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Amanda Adams Research Assistant

Academic Research Background | Amanda Adams earned dual B.A.s in Psychology and Russian from The Ohio State University. During this time, she completed a semester at Moscow State University. Her concentration of study was textual analysis of 19th century realist fiction. She also received a solid education in the foundations of psychology including research methods, cognitive theory, human development, and ABA counseling practices. A lifelong student, Amanda continues to take classes both for enjoyment and to advance her knowledge in the field of applied research.

Applied Research Background | She has 14 years of experience in the state assessment testing industry encompassing everything from essay evaluation, student response coding, reliability and validity monitoring, and resource coordination. Since joining Illuminology, she has helped with project management, conducted statistical analyses for surveys of American youth, and assisted with a review of qualitative data from focus groups with parents.

Some Personal Info | Amanda is an avid reader, knitter, and crossword enthusiast. She has played competitive roller derby since 2009 and enjoys spending time with her pug, Pushkin.

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Jaye Puckett Ph.D., Research Assistant

Academic Research Background | Dr. Jaye Puckett earned a B.A. in French, Russian, Chinese, and Medieval Studies from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in French from Johns Hopkins University. Her academic training emphasized close textual reading and intertextuality. In her dissertation, she analyzed the ways in which representations of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the female characters in popular medieval fiction both reflected and, at times, questioned or undermined prevalent stereotypes and beliefs about gender, sexuality, and power.

Applied Research Background | She has 15 years of experience transcribing, analyzing, and coding the contents of complex documents. In her first three years with Illuminology, she has worked with a diverse array of clients ranging from philanthropic grantmaking organizations to legal aid organizations to law firms, among others.

Some Personal Info | An inveterate DIYer, when not working Jaye can be found making things from scratch, from pickles and preserves to knitted socks and sweaters. She also enjoys biking around Columbus with her family.

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Who We Are

Who We Are

We’re a full-service market research firm providing strategic direction for clients in the private, non-profit, and public sectors.

Our size is an advantage for our clients. Key staffers work with you to design your research project, and the same people implement it. You’ve got the best brains in our organization during your entire project – and afterwards! We remain “on call” while you implement the strategies we’ve helped you identify. We believe in our recommendations, and we follow through. And we’re not bad at happy hour, either.

Meet the Team

Orie Kristel

Ph.D., Principal

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Amanda Scott

Ph.D., Principal

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Karen Hines

Ph.D., Senior Researcher

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Stacie Carlton

Researcher

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Utku Akbay

Researcher

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Eric Shaeffer

Ph.D., Researcher

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Jessica Gonzalez

Ph.D., Researcher

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Amanda Adams

Research Assistant

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Jaye Puckett

Ph.D., Research Assistant

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Other Research Personnel

We’re fortunate to work with a good number of skilled and motivated research assistants and contract researchers on a part-time basis, many of whom have been with us for years. And if we need to expand our capacity further, we rely on our relationships with other social science researchers across the United States who we trust to provide high-quality, usable research.