Data Analyst I - 530905

The University of Alabama • Tuscaloosa, AL

1d • $54,000 - $67,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Data Analyst I gathers, audits, analyzes, and reports low- to moderate-complexity data under general supervision and ensures data integrity. The position may perform ad-hoc analyses and reporting to inform decision-making, or design predictive modeling or other data-mining capabilities.

In the University of Alabama College of Education’s Department of Special Education, the role leads research data collection and management activities for Project LIFT: Literacy Improvement through Focused Tutoring. Project LIFT is an $11.2 million, five-year Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Mid-Phase grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It is scaling Friends on the Block, an evidence-based early literacy intervention, to 75 primarily rural Alabama elementary schools. The project serves struggling K–12 readers, including students with disabilities, across three implementation cohorts and includes a randomized controlled trial independently evaluated by Oregon Research Institute.

The position leads research data collection at the University of Alabama and in the field; coordinates data collection and management; analyzes quantitative and qualitative data to measure project effectiveness and student reading outcomes; tracks intervention fidelity and implementation; supports IRB approval and adherence; and assists with budgeting, reporting, and dissemination. The normal schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The position is eligible for hybrid work subject to University policy and requires regular travel to participating schools and districts across Alabama.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Some data analysis experience.
• Valid U.S. driver’s license.
• At least 19 years of age at the time of hire and an acceptable Motor Vehicle Report in compliance with University policies; applicants under 21 will have some driving restrictions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including communicating clearly with school leaders, teachers, research partners, and federal sponsors about data collection timelines, completion rates, and compliance requirements.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, including managing simultaneous deadlines, tracking data collection across multiple sites and conditions, and proactively identifying and resolving data quality issues.
• Strong quantitative data skills, including experience with SPSS, R, SAS, or equivalent statistical software for data preparation, cleaning, transformation, and quality review.
• Proficiency with secure data environments, including VPN, two-factor authentication, encrypted storage platforms such as UA Box or SharePoint, role-based access controls, and federal data security standards for research involving student-level data.
• Proficiency with Qualtrics or a comparable enterprise survey and data collection platform, including programming complex surveys with skip logic, embedded data, response validation, and automated reporting.
• Familiarity with the Alabama educational context, Alabama Literacy Act, Alabama Reading Initiative, or Alabama school district operations.
• Familiarity with human subjects protection requirements, including FERPA, IRB protocols, informed consent procedures, CITI certification, and federal data security requirements applicable to educational research; ability to apply these requirements independently in day-to-day operations.
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality of participant information in compliance with IRB, FERPA, and federal human subjects protection requirements, with a demonstrated track record of responsible data stewardship.
• Ability to travel regularly to participating schools and districts across Alabama.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in education, psychology, data science, public health, statistics, information systems, or a closely related field, and seven years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience as a lead or senior data coordinator on an IES-, EIR-, OSEP-, NIH-, or NSF-funded randomized controlled trial or large-scale implementation study in education or public health.
• Leadership experience coordinating data collection and management for a federally funded research study, including managing multi-site collection, training and supervising data collection staff, and maintaining data integrity across time points and conditions.
• Experience managing IRB-regulated multi-site data collection, including consent documentation, regulatory files, and amendment submissions across a multi-year federally funded study.
• Experience with REDCap, SPSS, R, or SAS for data management and preparation, including merging datasets, applying variable transformations, and generating analysis-ready datasets.
• Experience programming and managing Qualtrics research instruments for large-scale studies, including workflow automation, contact list management, and integration with secure data storage environments.
• Expertise in research data management, including data dictionaries, data quality assurance and cleaning protocols, large datasets, and preparing clean, documented datasets for analysis and sharing under data use agreements.
• Experience with IES or U.S. Department of Education research requirements, including WWC design standards, ED 524B reporting, and federal data sharing and management plan compliance.
• K–12 school or district experience, such as teacher, assessment coordinator, data coach, special education administrator, interventionist, or district data manager.
• Experience with the science of reading, early literacy assessment (such as WIAT-IV, DIBELS, CTOPP, or CUBED), high-impact tutoring, or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.
• Experience working with students with disabilities, students in high-need rural schools, or populations receiving special education services.
• CITI Program certification in Human Subjects Research (Social and Behavioral Sciences) or equivalent.
• IRB certifications.

Responsibilities

• Gather, audit, analyze, and report low- to moderate-complexity data under general supervision.
• Ensure data integrity and perform ad-hoc analyses and reporting to inform decision-making; the role may also design predictive modeling or other data-mining capabilities.
• Lead research data collection activities at the University of Alabama and in the field for Project LIFT.
• Coordinate research data collection and management.
• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data to measure project effectiveness and student reading outcomes.
• Track intervention fidelity and implementation.
• Support IRB approval and adherence.
• Assist with budgeting, reporting, and dissemination activities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level