Ph.D., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2002)

Erin Leahey's research program focuses on scientific practice and scientific careers. In a series of papers, she has investigated the diffusion of statistical techniques (like statistical significance testing) and heterogeneity in non-standard research practices (like data editing). She reviewed these and other efforts in the sociology of social science in a recent contribution to the Annual Review of Sociology. Her interest in scientific careers is demonstrated in another series of papers (e.g., ASR 2007, Social Forces 2008) that explores how the extent of specialization in scholars' research programs influences their career outcomes and helps explain gender differences in such outcomes. Professor Leahey is currently assessing the impact of subfield-spanning research in sociology (with Jim Moody); discovering how scholars from various disciplines and across multiple decades explain their success (with Cindy Cain); extending her work on specialization to the field of management (with Will Felps); theorizing the changing nature of regulation and self-regulation in the academy (with Kathleen Montgomery); and investigating how inter-disciplinary research helps and hinders scholars' careers (with Christine Beckman).

Click here to view my complete CV (PDF).

• “Methodological Memes and Mores: Toward a Sociology of Social Research”.  Annual Review of Sociology 34: 33-53.
   
• “Not by Productivity Alone: How Visibility and Specialization Contribute to Academic Earnings”.  American Sociological Review, 72(4): 533-561.
   
• “Gender Differences in Productivity: Research Specialization as a Missing Link”.  Gender & Society 20(6): 754-780.