Research Scientist II

University of New Hampshire

6d•$54,990 - $98,150•Hybrid

About The Position

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire seeks a Research Scientist to join its Center for Social Policy in Practice, home to the New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium. The Consortium is a network of researchers and research users dedicated to improving New Hampshire's child care system through stronger data. This position will bring a developmental psychology, child development, or early childhood education perspective to a collaborative research team. The role is primarily data-focused and will include sourcing, cleaning, merging, coding, managing, analyzing, and documenting quantitative data in Stata. Typical data sources include administrative records, national and local survey data, program data, and other datasets relevant to child care, family economic security, and social policy. The Research Scientist will help translate data into useful findings for policymakers, public agencies, philanthropy, service providers, and other community partners. Responsibilities include preparing research briefs, reports, fact sheets, presentations, data visualizations, and other public-facing materials designed to support evidence-informed decision-making. Competitive candidates will have a doctoral degree, or a master's degree plus three years of closely related research experience. Candidates should also have strong quantitative data management skills, expertise using Stata, and familiarity with early childhood education, child care policy, developmental psychology, child development, public policy, or a related social science field. Experience with administrative data, data visualization, grant-supported research, and communicating findings to practitioner or policy audiences is a plus. A hybrid work arrangement is acceptable.

Requirements

Doctorate in public policy, sociology, economics, or related social science discipline OR master's degree in one of these fields with at least three years of closely related research experience.
Expertise with Stata statistical software, particularly data cleaning and management.
Understanding of policy issues affecting people with low and moderate incomes
Strong technical proficiency in Stata for day-to-day analysis
Technical proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Canva, and ArcGIS or Datawrapper
Robust background in early childhood education (ECE) research and policy, including previous use of administrative child care licensing data, familiarity with data and research related to the cost of child care, school funding, and educational policy.
Familiarity with the ECE policy landscape
Interest in learning and contributing to processes around state data systems

Nice To Haves

Experience with grant application and reporting procedures.
Experience with data visualization and/or map making.

Responsibilities

Source, clean, manage, and/or merge an array of quantitative datasets in Stata, including national survey data, programmatic data, and/or federal and state administrative data.
Document decision-making processes and respond to feedback.
Analyze data, often using descriptive techniques, occasionally utilizing more complex methodologies.
Prepare diverse materials for publication and dissemination, including short research briefs and reports, infographics, videos, journal articles, fact sheets, webinars, or presentations.
Liaise with nonprofit partners, research sponsors, research colleagues, and/or state stakeholders to identify and respond to research and data needs to drive social policy-relevant decision-making.
Perform related duties as assigned