Research Specialist II

County of Riverside•Riverside, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The County of Riverside’s Department of Child Support Services (DCSS), Business Intelligence Team (BIT), seeks to fill a single vacancy for a Research Specialist II who will be assigned to Riverside, CA. This position requires some travel to attend meetings. The incumbent will be responsible for planning organizing and coordinating research, including the development of research models to measure the effectiveness of departmental programs designed for health, social, human behavioral or other problems inherent in the functions and objectives of the department, Develop data collection procedures and reporting formats necessary for implementing research and evaluation projects, confer with personnel from other departments, divisions, and outside agencies in obtaining needed data, use traditional results of research and present conclusions and recommendations to involved management and supervisory personnel and conduct evaluation studies of programs to determine the cost and effectiveness. The selected candidate may also write proposals for the purpose of obtaining grants from the state, federal and/or other private agencies. The most competitive candidate will possess experience in writing and developing proposals, using software and software language such as Tableau, SQL, R-Software, and SAS. Candidates will also have knowledge of Social Services programs and experience with research studies and/or program evaluations. A Masters degree is preferred. Meet the Team! County of Riverside Department of Child Support Services works with parents and guardians to ensure children and families receive court-ordered financial and medical support. Services provided included locating, establishing paternity; establishing, modifying, and enforcing a court order for child support; and establishing, modifying, and enforcing an order for health coverage. Can you see yourself here?

Requirements

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a master's degree in social science, statistics, mathematics, economics, business/public administration, public health, data processing, or any of the natural sciences, which included graduate level courses in research design, data collection methods, and advanced statistical analysis. (Additional qualifying experience may be substituted for up to two years of the required education, on the basis of 10 semester or 15-quarter units of graduate level course work equaling 6 months.)
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.
Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Ph.D. in social science, statistics, mathematics, economics, business/public administration, public health, data processing, or any of the natural sciences, which included graduate level courses in research design, data collection methods, and advanced statistical analysis.
Knowledge of: policies, procedures, practices and legislation governing the provision of social service delivery systems; policies, procedures, practices, and legislation governing clinical trials; advanced research methods including data collection, sampling and analysis; computer programming and processing methods; principles of management including planning, organizing and evaluating programs; social service concepts and issues; principles of planning, organizing and evaluating ongoing studies.
Ability to: Develop and prepare concise and coherent oral and written reports and recommendations; analyze, perform data queries and write executable computer programs; interpret and evaluate statistical data and research findings; use statistical software packages on personal computers; maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the common work; design and carry out research topics related to social service.

Nice To Haves

Experience in writing and developing proposals
Experience using software and software language such as Tableau, SQL, R-Software, and SAS
Knowledge of Social Services programs
Experience with research studies and/or program evaluations
A Masters degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

Initiate research and statistical investigations and plan, design, and conduct the activities of such investigations; recognize the need for research and statistical investigations in the delivery of services and program planning and evaluation.
Coordinate with staff and outside agencies to obtain data; design, organize and develop research evaluation plans; develop regulatory waiver requests, prepare budgets and submit grant proposals.
Define sample populations and selection criteria; design, develop and maintain databases; write queries to extract data for ongoing and unexpected management reports; create, test and administer surveys and questionnaires; conduct focus and personal interviews; develop forms, procedures, schedules and sampling criteria for field data collection; perform random assignments.
Advise research specialists and administrators of research findings and/or procedures; prepare narrative reports of findings with valid conclusions and statistical significance; project program impacts and provide trend analysis.
Identify problems in inter-organizational operations and procedures with implications for plan development and implementation and recommend alternative solutions for use in management decision-making.
Conduct research to identify community needs for new and changes to existing programs; identify appropriate sources of funding to support new programs and prepare funding applications.
Assist the supervisor in developing and coordinating planning activities and in directing assigned project staff; prepare annual budgets for research projects.
Participate in clinical trials or multi-institutional studies that require staff education and interaction with other agencies and partners.