Manuel S. González Canché

Biography

Manuel González Canché brings an innovative set of tools—including econometric, geospatial, and network analysis methods—to study the structural factors that influence minority and at-risk students' likelihood of success. He identifies plans of action capable of closing social and economic gaps resulting from students’ reduced access to financial, academic, and social resources. His findings offer a more nuanced understanding of the effect of location, influence, and competition, and have challenged traditional ideas about access, persistence, and success in higher education.

González Canché is the 2016 recipient of the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Promising Scholar/Early Career Award. He has secured funding for research from the Spencer Foundation, the American Educational Research Association, the National Science Foundation, the Association for Institutional Research, and the Institute of Education Sciences. González Canché is currently a fellow in the Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational, & Mixed Methodologies Fellows Program, where he serves as a mentor.

Education

Ph.D. (Higher Education, cognates in Biostatistics, Economics, and Sociology) University of Arizona, 2012
M.S. (Educational Research, concentration on quantitative modeling) Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, 2007
B.A. (Educational Research, concentration on Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Systems and software development) Autonomous University of the Yucatan, 2005

Areas of Expertise

Pathways for underrepresented minorities
Community colleges
Experimental and quasi-experimental design
Statistical and geographical network analysis
Data visualization
Big and geocoded data

Academic Programs

Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Management, Ed.D.
Higher Education, Ed.D.
Higher Education, M.S.Ed.
Higher Education, Ph.D.

Research Interests and Current Projects

González Canché’s research follows two interconnected paths. The first concerns issues of access, persistence, and success, with an emphasis on institution effects—such as 2-year versus 4-year college and distance from home—on students’ outcomes. The second focuses on higher education finance, with emphases on spatial modeling and competition based on spatial proximity and spillover effects.

In his research González Canché employs econometric, quasi-experimental, spatial statistics, and visualization methods for big and geocoded data, including geographical information systems, representation of real-world networks, and text-mining techniques. In related work, he aims to harness the mathematical power of network analysis to find structure in written content. He has proposed an analytic method (Network Analysis of Qualitative Data) that blends quantitative, mathematical, and qualitative principles to analyze text data. Similarly, he has proposed the implementation of geographical network analyses that merge network principles and spatial econometrics to model spatial dependence of the outcome variables before making inferential claims. Both of these approaches are yet to be broadly implemented in higher education research.

Recent projects include:

Bridging Public Perception and Institutional Policy: A Comprehensive Analysis of Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Higher Education. (Principal Investigator). Funding: $75,000. TIAA Research Foundation. Funding period: January 2025–December 2025.
Collaborative Research: Circle of Champions: Converting Latina/o STEM Students’ Social Capital into Academic Capital (Principal Investigator). Funding: $600,000. National Sciences Foundation. Funding period: November 2024–December 2027.
Penn Educational Alliance for Change and Equity (PEACE; Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Gerald Campano). Funding: $300,000. Penn Abroad—Penn Global—University of Pennsylvania. Funding period: January 2024–December 2026.
Latent Code Identification (Principal Investigator).Funding: $15,000. SAGE Ocean for Methods Development and Innovation. Funding period: August 2022–December 2023.
A Counter-factual Framework for Affordable Human-Resource Formation in STEM: Using the Community College Sector as an Effective Entry Point & Practice. Funding: $70,000. TIAA Research institute. Funding period: May 2022–March 2024.
Performance Funding in Higher Education: Connecting 40 Years of Policy, Research & Practice (Principal Investigator). Funding: $35,000. American Educational Research Association Education Research Conference Proposal. Funding period: November 2019–December 2023.
Overcoming the Geography of Disadvantage: A Spillovers Framework to Identify Structural Means to Enhance Community College Students' Educational Outcomes Despite Their Location. Funding: $70,000. NAED/Spencer postdoctoral fellowship. Funding period: January 2019–December 2020.
Employment Volatility in the Academic Workforce: Implications for Faculty Financial and Retirement Plans. Funding: $70,000. TIAA institute. Funding period: April 2019– February 2020.
The Effect of the Uniform Bar Examination on Diversity, Affordability, and Employment Prospects. Funding: $71,128. AccessLEX Institute. Funding period: April 2019–September 2020.
Estimating the Effect of Losing the Federal Loan Subsidy on Debt Accumulation for Law and Professional Students in the United States: Evidence From a Natural Experiment (Principal Investigator). Funding: $49,997. Association for Institutional Research, Access Group/AIR Grant (grant #RG1606). Funding period: March 2016–April 2017.
Are there Any Educational and Financial Detriments Associated with Nearby College Enrollment? (Principal Investigator). Funding: $20,000. American Education Research Association/National Science Foundation (grant #DRL-0941014). Funding period: March 2016–August 2017.
Toward an Alliance to Prepare a National Faculty for Broadening Success of Underrepresented 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Students (Senior Personnel). Funding: $300,000. National Science Foundation. Funding period: January 2017-January 2019.
The Gendered Career Path from Doctorate to Faculty Appointment: A Multi-State Analysis (Co-Principal Investigator). Funding: $39,966, AIR/NCES/NSF (grant #RG15-9240). Year: 2015–2016.
Improving the Teaching and Learning of English Language Learners: The Instructional Conversation Model (Co-Principal Investigator). Funding: $1.5 million. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Funding period: 2012–2016.
Financial Benefits of Student Loan Repayment: An Analytic Framework Employing Two Decades of Data (Principal Investigator). Funding: $35,100. The Spencer Foundation (grant #201500116). Funding period: January–December 2015.

Publications

Featured Publications

Spatial Socio-econometric Modeling

Manuel S. González Canché

Springer

July, 2023

Data Science, Interactive Visualizations, and Generative AI Tools for the Analysis of Qualitative, Mixed Methods, and Multimodal Evidence

Manuel S. González Canché

Morgan Kaufmann/Elsevier

June, 2026

Books

González Canché, M. S. (2026). Data science, interactive visualizations, and generative AI tools for the analysis of qualitative, mixed methods, and multimodal evidence. Morgan Kaufmann/Elsevier.

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Spatial socio-econometric modeling (SSEM): A low-code toolkit for spatial data science and interactive visualizations using R. Springer Texts in Social Sciences.

Software

González Canché, M. S. (2025). Network analysis of qualitative data: An integrative software application to visualize and assess similarities in participants’ qualitative contributions [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.8492516.v1

González Canché, M. S. (2025). Graphical retrieval and analysis of temporal information systems (GRATIS): An integrative mixed methodology and open-access software to analyze the (non-)linear chronological evolution of information embedded in textual/qualitative data [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.6005164.v1

González Canché, M. S. (2025). Visual evolution, replay, and integration of temporal analytic systems (VERITAS): A software application that implements visual replay methodology for qualitative and mixed methods research [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.6298987.v1

González Canché, M. S. (2024). Sentiment and emotion network analysis (SENA) [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.3367465.v1

González Canché, M. S. (2024). GeoStoryTelling: An integrative multi-media methodology and no code, cost-free software to geocontextualize qualitative evidence [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.7385885.v3

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Latent code identification (LACOID): A machine learning–based integrative framework [and open-source software] to classify big textual data, rebuild contextualized/unaltered meanings, and avoid aggregation bias [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.6576994.v1

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Machine driven classification of open-ended responses (MDCOR): An analytic framework and no-code, free software application to classify longitudinal and cross-sectional text responses in survey and social media research [Computer software]. Code Ocean: A Computational Research Platform. https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.5785029.v3

Edited Book Chapters

González Canché, M. S. (2022). Community colleges’ out-of-state transfer articulation agreements: An exploratory spatial network analysis of their prevalence, characteristics, and potential implications. In C. Cutler White (Ed.), Advocacy for change: Positioning community colleges for the next 75 years. New Directions for Community Colleges (iss. 197, pp. 121–139). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20502

González Canché, M. S. (2021). A complex systems network approach to assessing classroom/teacher-level baseline outcome dependence and peer effects in clustered randomized control trials. In A. Bowers (Ed.), Data visualization, dashboards, and evidence use in schools: Data collaborative workshop (pp. 417–447). Columbia University Libraries. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-jj2g-e225

González Canché, M. S. (2019). Geographical, statistical, and qualitative network analysis: A multifaceted method-bridging tool to reveal and model meaningful structures in education research. In M. B. Paulsen & L. W. Perna (Eds.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (vol. 34, pp. 535–634). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03457-3_12

González Canché, M. S. (2018). Challenges and opportunities in the use of big and geocoded data in higher education research and policy. In M. Gasman & A. Castro-Samoya (Eds.), Contemporary issues in higher education. Routledge.

González Canché, M. S. (2018). Reassessing the two-year sector’s role in the amelioration of a persistent socioeconomic gap: A proposed analytical framework for the study of community college effects in the big and geocoded data and quasi-experimental era. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (vol. 33, pp. 175–238). Springer.

Journal Articles

González Canché, M. S. (in press). Network analysis of qualitative data (NAQD): An analytic framework and software for qualitative data science visualization and hypothesis testing. International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

*Lee, H. P., *Zhang, C., González Canché, M. S., Park, Y., & Cnaan, R. A. (2026). Estimating citation gaps by team size: Evidence from a cross-disciplinary analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 20(1), Article 101780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2026.101780

Culver, K. C., & González Canché, M. S. (2026). We sit side by side: How course peers shape the achievement and success of at-promise Students. The Review of Higher Education, 49(2), 203–241. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2026.a978297

González Canché, M. S., **Liang, Y., & Zhang, C. (2025). To live or not to live at school? Boarding school impact on standardized academic outcomes for left-behind, rural, and low-income students in China. International Journal of Chinese Education, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X251316334

González Canché, M. S., **Liang, Y., & *Zhang, C. (2025). Sentiment and emotion network analysis—SENA: An analytic framework and no-code software to integrate natural language processing, linguistic analysis, and data science with qualitative and mixed-methods research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251346929

González Canché, M. S., **Qiu, J., **Zheng, K., **Gong, M., & *Zhang, C. (2025). The college transfer and articulation network: How are these statewide policies and bilateral or dyadic partnerships structured across the United States? Research in Higher Education, 66, Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09831-5

González Canché, M. S., **Zheng, K., Song, Y., & **Liang, Y. (2025). Standardized testing for diverse talent identification: A framework to address geographical bias in standardized testing and increase diversity in college admissions in the post-affirmative action era. Research in Higher Education, 66, Article 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09824-4

González Canché, M. S. (2025). GeoStoryTelling: An integrative multi-media methodology and no-code, cost-free software to geocontextualize ethnographic, health, and survey evidence. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251325629

González Canché, M. S., & *Zhang, C. (2025). The community college transfer and articulation network. The Journal of Higher Education, 96(6), 1114–1156. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2468130

González Canché, M. S., *Lee, J., *Zhang, C., *Bae, J. Y., & *Harding, J. (2024). Post-baccalaureate federal loans de-subsidization: Impacts on compositional attributes, extensive and intensive borrowing margins, and anticipatory effects. The Journal of Higher Education, 95(1), 54–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2023.2187176

González Canché, M. S., *Zhang, C., *Bae, J. Y. (2024). Power imbalance and whiteness in faculty-led diasporic academic collaborations: An application of network analysis of qualitative data. Higher Education, 88(3), 1059–1092. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01159-w

*Odle, T. K., *Bae, J. Y., & González Canché, M. S. (2023). The effect of the uniform bar examination on admissions, diversity, affordability, and employment across law schools in the United States. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 45(3), 520–529. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221131803

González Canché, M. S. (2023). The geography of mathematical (dis)advantage: An application of multilevel simultaneous autoregressive (MSAR) models to public data in education research. AERA Open, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584231198452

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Graphical retrieval and analysis of temporal information systems (GRATIS): An integrative mixed methods analytic framework and open-access software to analyze the chronological evolution of information embedded in textual/qualitative data. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 18(1), 71–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/15586898231166968

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Machine-driven classification of open-ended responses (MDCOR): An analytic framework and no-code, free software application to classify longitudinal and cross-sectional text responses in survey and social media research. Expert Systems with Applications, 215, Article 119265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2022.119265

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Latent code identification (LACOID): A machine learning–based integrative framework [and open-source software] to classify big textual data, rebuild contextualized/unaltered meanings, and avoid aggregation bias. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221144940

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Network analysis of qualitative data: An integrative software applications to visualize and assess similarities in participants’ qualitative contributions. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 16(3), 373–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/15586898211051584

González Canché, M. S. (2023). Becoming HOPEless in the 2-year sector. Educational Policy, 37(7), 2051–2115. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048221120276

González Canché, M. S. (2022). Mapping, organizing, and visualizing interdependent events (MOVIE): A rigorous analytic framework and cost-free software application designed to model temporal and dynamic complex realist structures in social research settings. Methodological Innovations, 15(3), 263–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/20597991221119012

González Canché, M. S. (2022). Post-purchase federal financial aid: How (in)effective is the IRS's student loan interest deduction in reaching lower-income taxpayers and students? Research in Higher Education, 63(6), 933–986. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09672-6

González Canché, M. S. (2021). Network analysis of qualitative data: An integrative software application to visualize and assess similarities in participants’ qualitative contributions. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 16(3), 373–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/15586898211051584

Wolf, S., González Canché, M. S., & Coe, K. (2021). A complex systems network approach to quantifying peer effects: Evidence from Ghanaian preprimary classrooms. Child Development, 92(6), 1242–1259. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13608

Mason, S., Merga, K., González Canché, M. S., & Roni, S. (2021). The internationality of published higher education scholarship: How do the ‘top’ journals compare? Journal of Informetrics, 15(2), Article 101155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2021.101155.

Lee, J., Dell, M., González Canché, M. S., Monday, A. (2021). The costs of corroboration: The effects of financial aid verification on college enrollment. Education, Evaluation, and Policy Analysis, 43(2), 233-252. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373721989304

González Canché, M. S. (2020). Community college students who attained a 4-year degree accrued lower student loan debt than 4-year entrants over 2 decades: Is a 10 percent debt accumulation reduction worth the added “risk”? If so, for whom? Research in Higher Education, 61(7), 871–915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09565-9

Lee, J., Ciaramboli, E., Rubin, P., & González Canché, M. S. (2020). Borrowing smarter or borrowing more? Investigating the effects of a change in federal loan policy. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(4), 483–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1650583

Leigh, E., & González Canché, M. S. (2020). The college promise in communities: Do place-based scholarships affect residential mobility patterns? Research in Higher Education, 62(3), 259–308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-020-09597-6

Ortagus, J., Kramer II, D., González Canché, M. S., & Fernandez, F. (2020). The impact of community college baccalaureate adoption on associate degree production. Teachers College Record, 122(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812012200108

González Canché, M. S. (2019). Repurposing standardized testing for educational equity: Can geographical bias and adversity scores expand true college access? Policy insights for the brain and behavioral sciences. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(2), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219861123

González Canché, M. S. (2019). Re(de)fining college access and its association with divergent forms of financial aid: A proposed conceptual and analytic framework. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 18(2), 113–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192719832252

González Canché, M. S. (2019). Spatial econometrics and network analysis as means to assess the assumption of independence in higher education research. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018(180), 11–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.20284

González Canché, M. S. (2019). The statistical power of “zooming in:” Applying geographically-based difference in differences using spatio-temporal analysis to the study of college aid and access. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018(180), 85–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.20288

Rubin, P., & González Canché, M. S. (2019). Test-flexible admissions policies and student enrollment demographics: Examining a public research university. Review of Higher Education, 42(4), 1337–1371. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0068

Turk, J. M., & González Canché, M. S. (2018). On-campus housing’s impact on degree completion and upward transfer in the community college sector: A comprehensive quasi-experimental analysis. The Journal of Higher Education, 90(2), 244–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1487755

González Canché, M. S. (2018). Geographical network analysis and spatial econometrics as tools to enhance our understanding of student migration patterns and benefits in the U.S. higher education network. The Review of Higher Education, 41(2), 169–216. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2018.0001

González Canché, M. S. (2018). Nearby college enrollment and geographical skills mismatch: (Re)conceptualizing student out-migration in the American higher education system. The Journal of Higher Education, 89(6), 892–934. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1442637

González Canché, M. S. (2017). Financial benefits of rapid student loan repayment: An analytic framework employing two decades of data. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 671(1), 154–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217701700

González Canché, M. S. (2017). The heterogeneous non-resident student body: Measuring the effect of out-of-state students’ home-state wealth on tuition and fee price variations. Research in Higher Education, 58(2), 141–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9422-2

González Canché, M. S. (2017). Community college scientists and salary gap: Navigating socioeconomic and academic stratification in the U.S. higher education system. Journal of Higher Education, 88(1), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.1243933

González Canché, M. S. (2014). Localized competition in the non-resident student market. Economics of Education Review, 43, 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.09.001

González Canché, M. S. (2014). Is the community college a less expensive path toward a bachelor's degree? Public 2- and 4-year colleges' impact on loan debt. The Journal of Higher Education, 85(5), 723–759. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2014.11777346

*Denotes Ph.D. student.

**Denotes master's or undergraduate student.

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