Episode 7: Conversation with Dr. Sonali Rajan on Using Data to Reduce Gun Violence at Schools

Host: David Riedman

Guest: Sonali Rajan, Ed.D., M.S., Associate Professor, Department of Health Studies & Applied Educational Psychology at Columbia University & President of the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms

Research Paper: Protocol for a nationwide case-control study of firearm violence prevention tactics and policies in K-12 schools

Research Methods: Authors created a nationally representative dataset of schools that experienced intentional gunfire on the campus during school hours since 2015 using the K-12 School Shooting Database. Matched control schools will be randomly selected from the US Department of Education's national database of all public schools. The following study will analyze 27 school safety strategies organized into seven key exposure groupings.

Conclusion: As the first national, controlled study, its results will provide novel and needed data on the effectiveness of school safety tactics and policies in preventing intentional shootings at K-12 public schools.

---

David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database. Listen to my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.