Quantitative Research Assistant
Quantitative Research Assistant
About the Organization:
Research for Action (RFA) is an independent, non-profit educational research organization that seeks to use research as the basis for the improvement of educational opportunities and outcomes for traditionally underserved students. With over two decades of experience, our work is designed to strengthen public schools and postsecondary institutions; provide research-based recommendations to policymakers, practitioners and the public at the local, state and national levels; and enrich the civic and community dialogue about public education.
Summary:
Research for Action (RFA) is seeking an Assistant in Quantitative Research to contribute to education policy and evaluation studies through data collection, cleaning, analysis and writing. The Research Assistant will collaborate with project directors and project team members across a variety of research projects focused on education topics. This is a full-time exempt position located at our office in Philadelphia. Salary and title will be determined based on the experience and qualifications of the candidates.
Job Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s in a relevant field such as statistics, sociology, economics, education, or public policy.
• Research interests and experience in one or more of the following content areas:
- Early childhood education
- K-12 district, state policy and federal policy
- Postsecondary state and federal policy
- School Finance
- Urban school reform
- Out-of-school programming
- Youth development
- Literacy
- Teacher quality and effectiveness
• Knowledgeable in the use of descriptive statistics and basic inferential statistics (e.g. t-tests, ANOVA, single and multiple regression).
• Strong desire to grow additional quantitative education research skills in data preparation, research design, and advanced statistical techniques (e.g., propensity score matching), required.
• Experience cleaning quantitative data sets for analysis, preferred.
• Experience with Stata or other statistical software such as SAS, R, M-plus, etc., preferred. Willingness and ability to learn Stata, required.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including ability to work collaboratively with team members on projects and to build rapport with interviewees, clients, and colleagues of diverse backgrounds.
• Evidence of strong writing skills and an ability to write for different audiences such as teachers, school administrators, policy makers, and academic researchers.
• Knowledge of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania education policy contexts, preferred.