Research Analyst I

University of Chicago

1d • $48,000 - $58,000

About The Position

The Research Analyst I will support the work of Consortium research teams as they design and implement studies. The successful candidate will contribute to the organization’s capacity to conduct highly-rigorous quantitative research on the Chicago Public Schools. The position requires someone with data manipulation, quantitative research, and programming skills and a passion for doing meaningful work to improve schools The Research Analyst I will be responsible for cleaning and building large-scale data bases and creating data documentation for new projects, as well as conducting detailed statistical analyses for research studies. The Research Analyst I would provide data and analytic support across Consortium projects and may also be assigned to provide on-going support to one or two projects. The successful candidate will have a commitment to equity and urban education, be deeply curious, and be willing to learn new methods and topics. The Research Analyst I position requires someone who is able to handle multiple concurrent tasks and projects and work in a highly collaborative environment. This position is grant-funded through 8/31/2028. This position will end 8/31/28 unless replacement funding is secured.

Requirements

• Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through < 2 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in education, policy studies, psychology, or other relevant social science or mathematical discipline.
• Experience in urban education, education research, policy, and practice.
• Experience with and demonstrated use of descriptive and multivariate statistics.
• Experience with manipulating data and building data sets.
• Familiarity with one or more programming languages (e.g., R, SAS, Stata, Python) and the ability to use or learn to use R and/or Stata.
• Ability to take initiative and a proactive approach to tasks and projects.
• Passion for improving educational outcomes and supporting actionable uses of research evidence.
• Commitment to understanding and improving outcomes for students of all backgrounds and experiences.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to work independently, with supervision, and in collaboration as a team member.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Create specialized databases by merging multiple, complex data sources, including school-, student-, teacher-, community-, and neighborhood-based files.
• Conduct data quality control procedures and update and create internal processes and data documentation for Consortium projects and data library.
• Contribute to conceptualizing, designing, and planning research projects, framing research questions, and particularly identifying appropriate data sources from the Consortium library.
• Conduct statistical analysis of large-scale databases using R, SAS, or STATA, including both simple descriptive group comparisons and advanced statistical modeling.
• Review pertinent literature and write literature summaries.
• Create effective displays of findings.
• Contribute to the writing of Consortium reports, academic journal articles, and grant proposals.
• Help manage project timelines, schedule meetings, and other project administrative tasks.
• Actively participate in organization-wide activities, including serving on committees, attending weekly Consortium-wide meetings, and providing feedback on others’ work.
• Participate and present findings in team and organization-wide meetings of researchers.
• Maintains technical and administrative support for a research project.
• Maintains recruiting and scheduling research subjects; assisting with developing or amending study protocols; assisting with developing data collection tools; assisting with building databases; and providing general administrative support.
• Has general awareness in research techniques or methods, regulatory policies and procedures, and relevant scientific field.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Benefits

• The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off.
• Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

What This Job Offers

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