Jess Grimmond’s research broadly centres on the development and implementation of mathematical models of cognition to examine decision-making processes. She uses observable behavioural data to infer latent cognitive processes and understand how individuals encode and utilise information.

Jess’ PhD thesis, titled “Disentangling Response Style and Latent State Constructs in Survey Data”, aimed to improve the accuracy of survey data by modelling how people’s decisions about responding influence their answers independently of the underlying trait, attitude and/or behaviour being measured. She developed advanced statistical frameworks that reduce bias, improve construct validity, and generate interpretable measures of response behaviour, with applications to experimental and longitudinal data.
This work demonstrates how response styles can reflect both context-dependent decision strategies and stable individual differences over
time. More broadly, Jess’ research contributes practical tools for
strengthening the validity of self-report measures and improving
the quality of behavioural science data.