Hello, my name is Stephen Paff. Here is a little bit more about me.
I have a background in both data science and ethnography. I developed this blog because I believe that both are necessary for professional social research.
I majored in math and anthropology at Wheaton College, graduating in 2013. At the time, I was not sure which one I was more interested in, so I decided to study both. I had no clue both would become increasingly popular in the professional world.
After graduating, I taught mathematics in Gary, IN and Chicago, IL for about three years. I eventually realized that teaching was not a good fit for me and in 2017 transitioned to data science and user/market research.
In the spring of 2017, I started working at Indicia Consulting as a data scientist and statistician. Indicia Consulting is a team of business anthropologists who specialize in social research around environmental and sustainability topics, and they hired me to oversee their quantitative research. Based on my joint background, I developed quantitative research that is uniquely tailored to ethnographic and other qualitative research.
In the fall of 2017, I started working at ServiceMaster in Memphis, TN, which also paid for a Master’s in Anthropology at the University of Memphis. During the first year at ServiceMaster, I worked as a User Researcher using ethnography and statistics to understand user perspectives and experiences with various software systems. In 2018, I transitioned to a data scientist on the pricing and marketing analytics team, where I analyzed customers’ attitudes and behaviors.
As an anthropology master’s student, I created my own concentration in data science, taking electives in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. For my master’s degree, I had to complete a practicum, a research project with an organization, my program’s version of a master’s thesis.
My practicum was an Indicia Consulting project with the California Department of Energy. I developed a machine learning decision tree model as part of an ethnographic project. The American Anthropological Association recognized it through CASTAC’s David Hakken Award. (For a more detailed report, here is the full report and PowerPoint summary.)
In the summer of 2019, I decided to move to New York City, closer to family, working as a senior data scientist at BronxCare, a hospital system in the South Bronx. There I developed data science systems to understand the health of populations the hospitals served.
From August 2020 to January 2022, I then worked as a senior data science at BiBerk in their Research and Development Department, where I explored how data science infrastructure could improve various functions within the organization.
From March 2022 to March 2024, I was a data scientist and Quantitative UX Researcher at Google in Google Cloud, where I developed the statistical infrastructure to analyze the usability of all Cloud networking products.
As both a data scientist and ethnographer, I am constantly striving to grow myself and learn about others’ journeys.
To connect with me, feel free to use the Contact page or reach out to me on LinkedIn or GitHub.