Research Specialist I

County of Riverside•Riverside, CA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Riverside University Health System - Behavioral Health is recruiting for a Research Specialist I to support its Research division in Riverside, CA. This position will support Behavioral Health programs with data analysis and reporting, developing evaluation designs, developing program indicators, identifying or developing data sources, assisting with survey design, and identifying areas of greatest need. Staff will write queries to produce ongoing and ad hoc reports. Incumbents will develop written and oral presentations that will be tailored to it's intended audience such as the general public, department leadership, funders, vendors, or stakeholders. Duties are performed with instruction and guidance and require the utilization of initiative and judgment in problem solving activities. Positions in this class are distinguished from the Research Specialist II class in that the former is subject to closer supervision and may perform subordinate research responsibilities when the latter is the project lead over more highly complex research studies and program evaluations. The most competitive candidates will have a Masters or Ph.D. with graduate-level work in psychology, behavioral health, evaluation, or social sciences with a strong emphasis in statistics and research design desired. The ideal candidate will have experience in research and/or evaluation activities, including statistical analysis and interpretation, and proficiency with statistical software such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and/ or R programing language (SPSS and/ or R). Additionally, competitive candidates will have experience in report design in Structured Query Language Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Power BI, and/or Crystal Reports. Structured Query Language (SQL) skills are highly desired. Experience in behavioral health and using electronic health record data is also a plus. Schedule: This position offers a 5/8 or 9/80 schedule with opportunities for a hybrid schedule.

Requirements

Graduation from a recognized college with a Bachelor's degree in social science, statistics, mathematics, economics, business/public administration, public health, data processing, or any of the natural sciences.
While a Bachelor's degree is preferred, additional qualifying experience may be substituted for up to two years of education on the basis of 30 semester or 45 quarter units equaling one year of experience.
Two years of progressively responsible experience in administrative, professional, investigative, technical or other responsible work which included statistical analysis, research or program design and data collection, and electronic data storage and report generation or grant writing.
Two years as an employment, eligibility, social service, or accounting supervisor with responsibilities that included the development or use of personal computer programs to compute or analyze benefits or the delivery of services.
Knowledge of: policies, procedures, practices and legislation governing the provision of social service delivery systems; advanced research and statistical methods including data collection and analysis; computer programming and processing methods; principles of management including planning, organizing and evaluating programs; social service concepts and issues.
Ability to: develop and prepare concise and coherent oral and written reports and recommendations; analyze, interpret and evaluate statistical data and research findings; use statistical software packages on personal computers; maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work; design and carry out research topics related to social service.
Possession of a valid California Driver’s License may be required.

Nice To Haves

Masters or Ph.D. with graduate-level work in psychology, behavioral health, evaluation, or social sciences with a strong emphasis in statistics and research design
Experience in research and/or evaluation activities, including statistical analysis and interpretation
Proficiency with statistical software such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and/ or R programing language (SPSS and/ or R)
Experience in report design in Structured Query Language Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Power BI, and/or Crystal Reports
Structured Query Language (SQL) skills
Experience in behavioral health and using electronic health record data

Responsibilities

Initiates research and statistical investigations and recognize the need for research and statistical investigations in the areas of behavioral health or social service delivery and program planning and evaluation.
Assists in the coordination with staff and outside agencies to obtain data; designs, organizes and develops research plans and evaluation designs.
May assist in defining study populations and sample selection criteria; generating databases and writing queries and computer programs to produce ongoing and ad hoc reports; conducts surveys and interviews and administers questionnaire forms; collects and analyzes baseline and administrative data; performs random assignment of study subjects; and, periodically posts reports to the web site.
Advises administrators of research findings and/or procedures; prepares narrative reports of findings with valid conclusions, projects program impacts, and predicts trends.
Assists in conducting research to identify needs for new programs, identifies appropriate sources of funding to support new programs and prepares funding applications.