The Atkinson Institute · Research Studies
Building a body of work
grounded in evidence.
We investigate the psychological and social conditions that shape self-worth, legitimacy, identity, and belonging. Through research, education, and evidence-informed application, we help people navigate self-doubt, life transitions, and personal growth.
How we turn lived experience
into evidence.
Research at the Atkinson Institute begins with the people most affected by the questions we're asking. We build methodologically rigorous studies that combine quantitative measures with narrative depth — producing findings that neither approach could generate alone.
Every study begins with a thorough review of existing peer-reviewed research. We identify genuine gaps before proposing original designs.
We develop research questions, select validated instruments, and define methodology before recruitment begins. Study designs are reviewed and approved prior to any data collection.
Structured surveys, validated scales, and optional narrative components gather data across participant groups with clear ethical standards and participant protections in place.
Findings are published as citable scholarship, translated into frameworks, and built into workshops and tools that reach the communities we study.
The conditions that shape
how we see ourselves.
Our research is not about fixing people. It's about understanding the forces — structural, psychological, and social — that make self-doubt feel inevitable. When we name those forces precisely, we can intervene at the right level.
Self-Worth & Legitimacy
How individuals come to feel — or fail to feel — that they belong in the roles and spaces they occupy. We examine both the internal experience and the external structures that reinforce or undermine it.
Life Transitions & Role Loss
Major transitions — relocation, career interruption, caregiving — systematically disrupt the structures through which identity is confirmed. We study those disruptions and their downstream effects on self-perception.
AI & Identity
Rapidly evolving technology is reshaping how people attribute their own competence. We examine how this affects self-worth, confidence, and the experience of professional belonging.
Structural Barriers to Belonging
Belonging is not purely psychological. Institutions, workplaces, and social systems build or erode the conditions for it. We examine structural — not only individual — explanations for why people feel like they don't belong.
Resilience & Recovery
We study how individuals recover a stable sense of self after disruption — and what conditions make that recovery more or less likely.
Military Spouses & High-Disruption Populations
Military spouses represent a population in which structural forces — repeated relocation, career interruption, role loss — interact with identity in measurable and often overlooked ways.
The next phase
of this work.
The Atkinson Institute is developing its first formal empirical research program. We are building the methodological foundation carefully — study design, instrumentation, and ethical review — before any data collection begins.
Studies will be announced when the review process is complete and enrollment is open. If you're interested in collaborating academically, we'd love to hear from you.
Our commitment to participants
and to the science.
Every study we run is built on a foundation of transparency, ethical practice, and respect for the people who participate in it.
Participation in all Atkinson Institute studies is voluntary and requires no purchase. Participants may withdraw at any time without consequence. Data is handled with care and used solely to advance published research.
Studies are developed through a structured design and review process before any recruitment or data collection begins. We do not launch studies ahead of appropriate ethical review.
We publish what we find, cite our sources, and acknowledge our limits openly. We separate what the literature shows from what we propose — and name the difference clearly.
The communities we study are not subjects. They are participants. We design studies so that the people most affected by these questions have the most access to what we learn from them.
Interested in this work?
Let's be in touch.
Whether you're a researcher, a potential participant, or an organization that wants to bring this work to your community — we want to hear from you.