Research Assistant
Early Childhood Development, Minneapolis office
Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development. Child Trends mission is to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children.
General Description
Child Trends is seeking a full time Research Assistant for its Early Childhood Development research area in its Minneapolis, Minnesota office. Staff in the Minnesota office work on projects based in Minnesota and on joint projects with staff in the Washington D.C. office. The projects include research on the features of high quality early care and education environments, professional development for the early care and education workforce, and effective strategies for improving the quality of children's early experiences, both at home and in child care.
Primary responsibilities include
Recruit participants into research studies.
Answer questions participants have about research studies.
Schedule data collection activities with participants.
Organize project files and track important project deadlines.
Assign work to other project staff.
Administer structured surveys (telephone, written and online data collection instruments) for projects requiring primary data collection.
Maintain data using an online database.
Practice data privacy and maintain participant confidentiality at all times.
Secondary responsibilities include
Assist in producing presentations for conferences and help format articles and reports.
Assist with clerical tasks, information requests, and photocopying, when necessary.
Tabulate and/or maintain collected data by means of coding or organizing data into tables or graphs.
Clean, code, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
Assist in literature reviews and report writing.
Qualifications
B.A. in psychology, sociology, education, social work, or related field, with a strong emphasis in communications.
Interest in topics related to early childhood development, child psychology.
Strong thinking, organizational, and problem solving skills.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Excellent telephone skills.
Some coursework and research experience in statistics and qualitative or quantitative research methods.
Must be an independent, motivated worker.
Familiar with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint a plus.
Prior job experience with customer service a plus.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and three professional references to rstarr@childtrends.org by January 30th, 2013.
Child Trends is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer