Research Assistant – Quantitative (Health, Income, and Benefits Policy Division)
About The Position
The Health, Income, and Benefits Policy Division at the Urban Institute provides research, evaluation, and technical assistance on the implementation of health, income, and benefits-related policies at the federal, state, and local levels. Researchers assess the impact of these policies on various stakeholders and communities and seek to understand how policies can better meet their needs. The Health Care Coverage, Costs, and Access practice area is looking for a quantitative Research Assistant with strong coding and analytic problem-solving skills to support senior researchers on projects related to private health insurance reforms, Medicare and Medicaid programs and payment policy, maternal and child health, rate regulation policies, and efforts to improve access and quality of care.
Requirements
- Possess a bachelor's degree in economics, public policy, public health, mathematics, statistics, data science, or related fields and at least one year of academic or work experience in quantitative research and/or data analysis.
- Have experience with data analysis software packages such as Stata, R, or SAS.
- Have experience merging, cleaning, or restructuring datasets, creating tables or charts, and conducting statistical analysis.
- Demonstrate strong mathematical and statistical skills, preferably with knowledge of basic econometric methods.
- Demonstrate sound judgment using AI tools to support coding and analytic problem solving, including awareness of confidentiality, data security, and the need to verify AI-generated outputs.
- Exhibit strong oral and written communication and organizational skills.
- Demonstrate strong interest in and/or experience with health insurance reforms, Medicare or Medicaid policy, maternal and child health, and/or other health policy topics.
- Be detail-oriented and self-motivated with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team while contributing to and managing workflows on multiple projects.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with administrative, survey, or other complex data is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate on projects that include a variety of research and analytic assignments related to health care coverage and costs, health care financing and delivery reform, and the effects of policies on health care access and quality.
- Work primarily on quantitative research tasks, such as collecting, organizing, and analyzing data; creating and interpreting tables, graphs, and other analysis output; and assisting with the implementation of regression models and other quantitative research methods.
- Use Stata, SAS, and/or R to clean, merge/restructure, and manage large and complex datasets, create and manage files for analysis, and conduct statistical analyses.
- Summarize findings and present information effectively in multiple formats, such as tables/charts, written memos, and/or slide presentations.
- Support quality assurance by checking code, reviewing data output, documenting analytic decisions, and identifying inconsistencies or data limitations.
- Assist as needed with qualitative and general research tasks, such as reviewing literature and websites and assisting with citations, note-taking, research proposals, and project management.
- Work closely with senior researchers and contribute to research papers and peer-reviewed publications.
Benefits
- Generous paid time off
- Nine federal holidays
- Medical (including prescription) insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Transit benefits
- 403(b) retirement plan participation immediately
- Generous employer contribution to 403(b) after six months of service and 500 hours, with immediate vesting
- Health advocate
- Personal finance coaching
- Employee Assistance Program
- Educational assistance for undergraduate and graduate degree programs
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
