Ryan S. Ritter

Ryan S. Ritter

Research Scientist

Biography

Ryan is a Research Scientist with 9+ years of industry research experience in the application of rigorous quantitative methods to measure and understand the social impact of technology on people and society. His work helps companies and teams make better decisions and informs their strategy, product development, and policy.

He also continues to publish on his graduate school area of study: the social psychology of religion, morality, and mind perception.

Outside of work you will find him spending time with his partner Jennifer and his three awesome boys.

Interests
  • Computational Social Science
  • Social Impact of Technology
  • Data for Good & Open Science
  • Well-Being
Education

  • PhD in Social Psychology, 2014

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Skills

R
Statistics & Modeling
Data Science
Survey Science
Data Engineering
Python

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Quantitative UX Researcher
Google
October 2023 – Present
 
 
 
 
 
Research Affiliate
University of Michigan
July 2023 – Present
 
 
 
 
 
Research Scientist (SWE) | Computational Social Science (Central Applied Science)
Facebook/Meta
May 2020 – June 2023
 
 
 
 
 
Quantitative UX Researcher
Uber
February 2019 – April 2020
 
 
 
 
 
Quantitative UX Researcher
Facebook
June 2014 – January 2019

Recent Posts

Improving treatment effect estimates with multivariate adaptive shrinkage (mashr)
An illustrative example of when and how to use MASHR (multivariate adaptive shrinkage) for improved treatment effect estimates.
Ryan S. Ritter
Jun 2, 2023 8 min read
The problem of placebos in research on the impact of social media on people's well-being
Research on the effect of social media on people’s well-being is challenging, for many reasons. In this post I highlight one such reason that is often ignored in experimental research on this important topic: placebo effects.
Ryan S. Ritter
May 22, 2023 5 min read
The practical introduction to Bayesian statistics that actually made sense to me
A notebook to provide a practical introduction to the basics of Bayesian statistics in R.
Ryan S. Ritter
May 16, 2023 1 min read

Projects

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All ML and Causal Inference Data for Good
State of Social Connections Study
I’m proud to have helped lead Meta’s collaboration with Gallup and some of the world’s top social scientists on the State of Social Connections study, which offers a first-of-its-kind look at how social connections vary across different geographic regions.
Meta Data for Good Website Report Methodology Report Survey Instrument Aggregate Data Download Micro Data Request Form
State of Social Connections Study
Don’t be seduced by the allure: A guide for how (not) to use machine learning metrics in experiments
In this Medium article we introduce the Experimentation with Modeled Variables Playbook (xMVP) to help teams navigate the appropriate use of machine learning metrics in experiments.
Medium Article
Don’t be seduced by the allure: A guide for how (not) to use machine learning metrics in experiments

Selected Publications

Brenna Davidson, Nicole Ellison, William Tov, Ryan S. Ritter (2023). [Manuscript in preparation] A pre-registered multiverse analysis of the relationship between self-reported social media use and feelings of connection in 7 countries.

Ivan Hernandez, Ryan S. Ritter, Jesse L. Preston (2023). Minds of monsters: Scary imbalances between cognition and emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

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Amelia Goranson, Ryan S. Ritter, Adam Waytz, Michael I. Norton, Kurt Gray (2017). Dying is unexpectedly positive. Psychological Science.

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Ryan S. Ritter, Jesse L. Preston, Ivan Hernandez (2013). Happy Tweets: Christians are happier, more socially connected, and less analytical than atheists on Twitter. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

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