Research Associate / Analyst

$62,000 - $72,000/Yr

Erikson Institute - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Entry Level

Remote - Chicago, IL

Educational Services

About the position

The Research Associate/Analyst position at Erikson Institute involves supporting the Herr Research Center's home-based child care research team. The role focuses on conducting research, project coordination, and administrative tasks related to home-based child care policy and practice. This full-time position is suitable for early to mid-career professionals interested in early childhood research and policy, with a commitment to equity and justice. The position is expected to run from October 2024 to at least September 2025, with the possibility of extension, contingent upon grant or contract funding.

Responsibilities

• Attend regular project meetings via Zoom and communicate consistently via email.
• Manage multiple projects and tasks in an organized manner.
• Synthesize information, conduct literature reviews, build databases, develop study protocols, and organize different forms of data and information.
• Recruit participants and collect quantitative and qualitative data (primarily virtually).
• Maintain and manage data files, including adherence to policies regarding the handling/storage of research data and materials.
• Transcribe, enter, clean, code, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Lead the preparation of study multi-media products, including presentations, reports, memos, policy briefs, infographics, social media posts, and journal articles.

Requirements

• 3+ years of research experience, including collecting, analyzing, reporting on, and disseminating quantitative and/or mixed methods data related to child development, education, and/or social programs.
• Demonstrated competence in cleaning and analyzing primary and/or secondary data, including from surveys and administrative sources.
• Proficiency conducting descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS, STATA, R, or other statistical platform(s); familiarity with multilevel modeling, causal inference, and other advanced methodologies a plus.
• Experience planning, organizing, and coordinating research activities, including IRB protocol development and/or grant writing.
• A commitment to and clear articulation of an interest in advancing equity.
• Experience interacting with economically, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities.
• Prior knowledge of early childhood education, child care, and family policy.
• Willingness and flexibility to occasionally attend evening/weekend meetings as needed, with flex time granted.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and management skills.
• Ability to work independently and with groups.
• Computer literacy including word processing, email, Microsoft Teams, and videoconferencing.
• Bachelor's degree in psychology, human development, education, public policy, public health, human services, or related field; Master's degree preferred.

Nice-to-haves

• Spanish fluency, including comfort with verbal facilitation and written translation, strongly preferred.
• Experience collecting (e.g., in focus groups or interviews) managing, cleaning, coding, and analyzing qualitative data.
• Experience with community based participatory action research and/or human centered design approaches.
• Interest and/or experience in science communication and multi-media dissemination of research findings.