"Senior Research Associate (Quantitative)"

Job Details

Senior Research Associate (Quantitative)

Job Summary

The forthcoming center on prison education research and leadership in the College of Education at the University of Utah seeks a Senior Research Associate with expertise in quantitative methods. The Center does research that advances educational justice for people and communities harmed by incarceration. We envision a world where colleges and universities lead the way in fostering greater access to opportunity for all people, including those directly impacted by the legal system.

The Senior Research Associate (SRA) will undertake a wide range of strategic, academic, and capacity-building activities aimed at enabling and enhancing research on prison higher education and reentry. In collaboration with institutional and program leaders, the SRA will oversee strategic research advancement, communicate research opportunities and findings, foster collaboration within the team, and engage a leadership role on research projects. The person who fills this position will be responsible for training other researchers, supervising research staff, and overseeing graduate assistants, and will serve as primary research liaison to the Center, the University, and other external partners. The SRA will work under the supervision of the Center Director. We strongly encourage applications from individuals directly impacted by incarceration and punishment systems.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead/co-lead researcher on multi-PI research projects
• Lead all phases of research design, planning, and execution of quantitative research projects. This includes reviewing literature, developing research plans, developing data collection instruments and tools, piloting and validating data, analyzing quantitative data, and drafting and editing research reports and scholarly manuscripts
• Serve as senior liaison with stakeholders including state agencies and higher education institutions
• Oversee IRB protocols, data use agreements, and compliance monitoring across multiple institutions and jurisdictions
• Lead regular cross-site meetings to align stakeholders
• Coordinate secure data transfers and compliance across states and data providers
• Maintain detailed documentation of data processing pipelines, codebooks, and metadata
• Ensure appropriate data cleaning, harmonization, transformation, and documentation across diverse data sources
• Apply advanced statistical models and quantitative research designs (e.g., regression, propensity score matching, longitudinal modeling, fixed/random effects, regression discontinuity, instrumental variable estimation, difference-in-difference)
• Design and oversee data linkage strategies across disparate administrative datasets
• Interact with stakeholders, partner institutions/organizations, political, governmental, funders, and corporate leaders related to research initiatives
• Develop and present research results, in the form of technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, briefs, presentations, webinars, etc., to inform internal and external stakeholders of research projects
• Mentor, train, and supervise a team of researchers
• Other research related activities as assigned by the Center Director

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in education, social sciences, or related field or comparable professional experience
• Advanced knowledge of the field of higher education
• 5+ years of experience in quantitative research, including longitudinal or administrative data analysis
• Demonstrated experience conducting applied social science and/or educational research, including implementing experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, survey techniques, and program evaluation
• Demonstrated experience with data cleaning, data migration, and management of multiple administrative data sets
• Demonstrated commitment to and knowledge about educational equity and justice
• Ability to work well with and across diverse teams of people
• Strong project management experience coordinating communications and associated logistics on a multi-site research project
• Advanced knowledge of Excel, Python, R, or other data analysis tools to conduct data analytics, statistical analysis, survey tools, and research techniques
• Proven experience leading teams and managing deadlines
• Experience working both independently and as a collaborative team member
• Excellent written communication, verbal communication, and organizational skills; and attention to detail

Preferences

• Knowledge of the landscape of postsecondary education in prison
• Advanced experience working with institutional and state-level postsecondary data systems

Special Instructions

Applicant Documents Directions: 1. Writing Sample: Attach a writing sample of one scholarly paper or technical report where you are lead author or major contributor demonstrating quantitative research skills. 2. Example of Research: Specifically highlights experience leading multi-site research projects and using quantitative/statistical analyses. No more than two pages.