POSITION OBJECTIVE

The Center on Poverty and Community Development is a research center of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. The Poverty Center is a trusted community partner that provides rich data infrastructure and research expertise to address the challenges associated with poverty. The Poverty Center works with communities to effect change locally, and its experience has relevant implications for research and policies nationwide.

Working under general supervision, the Social Sciences Research Assistant 2 will plan, carry out, and support research, evaluation, and management for projects around infant, child, and adolescent wellbeing, involviing the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, survey instrument design, focus group design, report preparation and visualizations. This is a part-time, term position.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1. Plan, carry out research activities, and manage the day-to-day research and evaluation tasks assigned related to various projects and assist with comprehensive program evaluation and report preparation. (20%)
2. Plan and carry out data collection, cleaning, preparation and analysis. Assist with research and evaluation including systematic literature reviews, development of instruments and surveys; develop databases and spreadsheets to manage research projects; support statistical data analyses using R software. (35%)
3. Support project work of principal investigator through daily project activities and assigned tasks, including literature reviews, and attending stakeholder meetings. Assist with the preparation of reports, publications, and grant submissions. Create data visualizations for inclusion in project reports and assist with the production of community guides. (30%)

4. Maintain records of all research activities and support submission of protocols to the IRB. Track Data Use Agreements or other compliance documents, as needed. (10%)

    

NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

May train new staff and/or direct the work of students. Perform other duties as assigned. (5%)

CONTACTS

Department: Daily contact with supervisor and research staff at the Poverty Center to exchange information.

University: Occasional contact with other departments to exchange information.

External: Occasional contact with community partners to exchange information .

Students: Frequent contact with student employees to exchange information.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

No direct supervisory responsibility. May train new staff and/or direct the work of students.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education/Experience: Bachelor's degree in social sciences or related field and 1 to 3 years of experience working in funded evaluation/research to conduct program evaluations required. Master's degree preferred.

REQUIRED SKILLS

1. Highly organized with strong qualitative and quantitative research skills.
2. Ability to create IRB applications for new projects and monitor compliance for existing projects.
3. Ability to assist with both the development and execution of program evaluations.
4. Experience in Microsoft Suite (Word, Access, Excel), email and internet applications; proficient with statistical packages such as R Stata, etc.
5. Experience creating data visualizations.
6. Ability to work collaboratively in a small team environment.
7. Ability to work with general supervision while being highly self-motivated and self-directed.
8. Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills.
9. Ability to meet consistent attendance.

10. Ability to interact with colleagues, supervisors and customers face to face.

     

WORKING CONDITIONS

General working conditions. May be required to attend evening and weekend meetings or events.