Senior Data Analyst (Research Assistant 3) or Lead Data Analyst (Research Associate 1)

JOB SUMMARY

The University of Connecticut School of Social Work seeks qualified applicants for an open position as the Senior Data Analyst (Research Assistant 3) or Lead Data Analyst (Research Associate 1).

This position will support the Innovations Institute’s growing portfolio of research and evaluation activities in partnership with local, state, and federal government agencies and organizations on behalf of children, youth, and families. The Innovations Institute advances research-based, inclusive, culturally responsive, and transformative solutions for child-, youth-, and family-serving public systems through implementation support, workforce development, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) expertise. Positions with the Innovations Institute are fully remote, with expected travel to UConn’s Hartford Campus once annually at the employee’s expense. Innovations staff must reside in the United States. A VISA sponsorship is not possible for this position. 

Innovations research staff compile and analyze data and present findings to various stakeholder groups with the goal of guiding systems and programs in their efforts to improve outcomes for children, families, and communities. Our work specifically focuses on translating evidence-based and promising practices to the field to inform best practices and identify needs for future research. Under the supervision of the Innovations research faculty, the Lead Data Analyst will focus primarily on data management, analysis, and visualization to support evaluation and CQI activities. The successful candidate will support the management, cleaning, analysis, and reporting of data related to public behavioral health service utilization, satisfaction, fidelity, and/or outcome measures consistent with contractual reporting requirements. Specifically, successful candidates will support initiatives aimed at using large administrative datasets to provide guidance to state and local leaders for strategic planning of behavioral health service arrays.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage data sets, such as merging, recoding, and cleaning data using statistical software packages (e.g., SPSS, SAS, R, STATA), and ensure that data are ready for analysis.
• Perform quantitative analyses that will provide actionable insights.
• Develop and use data visualization templates to facilitate insights from the data collected for internal and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to written products for multiple audiences including academic manuscripts, public-facing one-pagers, and technical reports for decision-makers.
• Summarize relevant background literature to help interpret findings from data analyses and write literature reviews. 
• Contribute to CQI and evaluation plans, including the study design, sampling, measurement, data collection procedures, and data analysis strategies.
• Work with stakeholders to efficiently identify research needs supporting CQI and evaluation goals.
• Provide technical assistance to service providers and public agencies in developing data collection procedures, building data collection instruments, regularly reviewing data, and providing feedback to resolve data quality issues.
• Contribute to and manage work plans.
• Perform related duties as required.

Opportunities May Include

• Present work to various audiences, including at meetings, webinars, and academic conferences.
• Co-author academic manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
• Contribute to the development and writing of federal, state, and private grant proposals.
• Serve as a subject matter expert related to CQI efforts, program evaluation, and quantitative data analysis.
• Mentor other members of the research team, develop training, and provide continued guidance on data collection, analysis, and storage. 
• Serve as an expert resource to others internally and externally.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Senior Data Analyst (Research Assistant 3):

• Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Education, Public Policy, Mathematics, Statistics, Information Management, Economics, Health Science, or in another field of study related to the research and four to five years of post-degree experience, OR Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Education, Public Policy, Mathematics, Statistics, Information Management, Economics, Health Science, or in another field of study related to the research and two to four years of post-degree experience.
• Evidence of skill in statistical programming, data/statistical analysis, and interpreting findings using statistical software (e.g., SPSS, SAS, R, STATA) as well as spreadsheet applications.
• Experience merging, cleaning, and analyzing large administrativ