Research Assistant (Term)

Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN
Onsite

About The Position

We are looking for a full-time Research Assistant as part of the Little Learners Lab in the Psychology and Human Development Department at Vanderbilt University, a research group focused on exploring the foundations of early literacy and scientific literacy development. The Research Assistant will play an integral role in the day-to-day operations of multiple ongoing projects. Responsibilities include maintaining participant relationships, administering cognitive testing managing and coding data, conducting analyses, and training and supervising undergraduate research assistants. The role also involves contributing to scholarly writing and publications, presenting at conferences, supporting administrative tasks, and assisting with reports. This position reports directly to the Laboratory Director. The position is for 1 year only with the possibility of extension dependent on the availability of new grant funds.

Requirements

  • General understanding of scientific research methods, study design, and research ethics is necessary
  • Excellent interpersonal skills with warmth, professionalism, and cultural sensitivity when working with diverse populations is necessary
  • Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while maintaining high-quality standards is necessary
  • Reliable and responsive in participant communications and study coordination is necessary
  • Flexibility to work evenings and weekends regularly to accommodate participant scheduling needs is necessary

Nice To Haves

  • Experience with data coding, variable creation, and dataset preparation is preferred
  • Experience working with young children in research settings is preferred
  • Experience in managing research assistants is preferred
  • Experience in institutional review board processes is preferred

Responsibilities

  • Scheduling and consenting participants
  • maintaining contact through breaks in data collection
  • building community partnerships (e.g., preschools, children museums)
  • contributing to the disseminate of our work through community events and communications
  • Administering experiments as well as standardized ability and achievement testing
  • Requires use of standard protocols to administer psychoeducational measures and use of specialized computer software to collect behavioral data
  • May require the development of assessments with specialized computer software
  • Assist in developing study protocols and measures, documenting and acquiring necessary equipment/stimuli
  • Data scoring and entry, data management, data coding, and data quality checks
  • design and maintain REDCap surveys and data collection instruments tailored to study needs
  • Hiring new assistants, training and coordinating assistants that aid in various lab duties, such as collecting and coding data
  • Preparing and presenting posters and talks at academic conferences and in the community
  • helping to draft manuscripts for publication
  • Maintaining information technology, website, purchasing, participant payments, and bookkeeping
  • coordinating schedules, facilitating and attending lab meetings
  • Helping with periodic review reports for Institutional Review Board
© 2026 Teal Labs, Inc
Privacy PolicyTerms of Service