Senior Research Associate
About The Position
The Senior Research Associate serves as a senior methodologist in The Ohio State University’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP), reporting directly to the Associate Vice President. The role focuses on advanced and predictive analytics, statistical modeling, survey research, and program evaluation to assess student success and academic excellence initiatives and advance the Academic Excellence Plan and University Strategic Plan. The position collaborates with campus offices, academic departments, and university leadership. The role executes complex quantitative analyses; develops, validates, and maintains predictive models and forecasts; designs and administers surveys; and evaluates programs, outcomes, and interventions. It integrates institutional, survey, career-outcome, and labor-market datasets to examine student pathways, career outcomes, salary trajectories, and work-based learning. The Senior Research Associate also builds executive dashboards, communicates findings through reports and presentations, and translates technical analyses into actionable recommendations for non-technical audiences and senior leaders. The position partners with areas including the Center for Career Excellence, Office of International Affairs, Strategic Enrollment Management, Undergraduate Education, Graduate Education, Student Life, the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation, and academic departments. It also works with Institutional Research and IT colleagues on data accessibility, system integrity, and operational alignment.
Requirements
- Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Statistics, Data Analytics, Quantitative Research Methodology, Economics, Higher Education Evaluation, Social Sciences, or a related quantitative field.
- With a master’s degree, at least 5 years of relevant professional experience; with a Ph.D., at least 3 years of relevant experience. Postdoctoral work and Graduate Research Assistant experience count toward the Ph.D. experience requirement.
- Relevant experience must be in higher education assessment, institutional research, data analytics, or survey research.
- Demonstrated experience in advanced quantitative analytics, predictive analytics, statistical modeling, or machine learning.
- Proficiency in statistical software such as R, SPSS, SAS, or Stata.
- Experience with survey research methods, instrument design, and administration, such as Qualtrics.
- Experience conducting higher education program evaluations, outcome assessments, and intervention impact studies.
- Strong communication, report-writing, presentation, and data-visualization skills, including dashboard development using Tableau, Power BI, or Python.
Nice To Haves
- Ph.D. or terminal degree in a quantitative field.
- Quantitative research experience within an R1 university institutional research or assessment office.
- Proven experience in enterprise predictive analytics, ranking models, executive report writing, and high-level data storytelling.
- Experience with career-outcome data or integrating multiple platforms, such as PSEO, First Destination Survey, Handshake, or 12Twenty.
- Experience with ranking projection models, what-if tools, and ranking predictions, such as USNWR, QS, or Shanghai rankings.
- Proficiency in statistical software and query tools including R, Python, SQL, SPSS, SAS, or Stata.
Responsibilities
- Execute advanced quantitative methods, including linear and logistic regression, mixed methods such as text analytics, multivariate analysis, survival analysis, and propensity score matching.
- Develop, validate, and maintain predictive analytics, statistical models, time-series forecasting algorithms, and machine-learning approaches for student success and other strategic priorities.
- Simulate what-if scenarios for national and global university rankings, including USNWR, QS, and THE, with attention to international student success, global mobility, and peer benchmarking.
- Design survey instruments, manage Qualtrics administration, ensure data validity and reliability, and analyze survey results for student experience trends.
- Conduct quantitative and qualitative impact studies of interventions, academic programs, learning outcomes, and student support programs.
- Merge survey results with longitudinal institutional datasets to evaluate the student lifecycle.
- Evaluate post-graduation career outcomes, salary trajectories, and the effects of work-based learning, including internships, co-ops, undergraduate research, and clinicals.
- Integrate and clean datasets such as Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO), the Graduation First Destination Survey, Handshake, 12Twenty, and labor-market statistics.
- Serve as the primary analytics partner to the Center for Career Excellence to assess program return on investment and workforce alignment.
- Build interactive, executive-ready dashboards and tracking tools using Tableau, Power BI, Python, or R.
- Prepare narrative reports, executive briefings, and visual presentations that synthesize analyses, survey results, and predictive models.
- Translate technical statistical concepts into clear data stories for non-technical audiences and support data fluency across the university.
- Collaborate with campus offices, academic departments, and university leaders, and translate findings into policy briefs and strategic recommendations.
- Partner with Institutional Research and IT colleagues to support data accessibility, system integrity, and operational alignment.
- Use AI tools responsibly to streamline coding and exploratory analysis while maintaining auditability, fairness, and data privacy.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
