Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Action Research partners with child welfare systems to provide research, data analysis, and strategic support that strengthens policy and practice and improves outcomes for children, youth, and families. The Research Analyst will analyze and validate administrative data, assess child welfare system performance, support reform monitoring arising from federal class action litigation, and communicate findings to technical and nontechnical stakeholders. The role also includes quality assurance, project coordination, partner engagement, and qualitative research as needed.
Responsibilities
- Data cleaning and quality assessment – cleaning, organizing, and documenting administrative data; identifying and resolving errors, inconsistencies, duplicates, missing values, and formatting issues; and assessing the data’s completeness, reliability, and suitability for analysis
- Data analysis – writing and executing reproducible, well-documented syntax or code to analyze large and complex administrative datasets accurately and efficiently
- Performance validation – replicating and independently validating performance calculations submitted by public agencies
- Quality assurance – reviewing data, code, calculations, tables, written findings, and colleagues’ analytic work for accuracy, consistency, and clarity
- Communicating findings – interpreting analytic results and translating them into clear technical memos, internal materials, public reports, presentations, and other products for technical and nontechnical audiences
- Partner engagement – presenting and discussing analytic findings with colleagues, court monitoring teams, government agencies, and other partners
- Reform monitoring – tracking developments in state and local reform efforts and preparing background materials for meetings with state and monitoring teams
- Project coordination – maintaining workplans and documentation, coordinating project activities, and communicating proactively about progress, risks, and competing priorities
- Qualitative research – as needed, supporting interviews, focus groups, case reviews, desk research, and literature reviews and synthesizing key insights for project teams and partners
- Project learning and improvement – helping project teams connect analytic findings to emerging questions, decisions, and next steps
- Knowledge sharing – sharing analytic approaches, documentation, strategies, and lessons with colleagues to strengthen practice across the organization
Skills
- A bachelor's degree and at least four years of relevant professional experience, or master's degree and at least two years of relevant professional experience. Relevant fields may include public policy, data science, economics, sociology, public health, public administration, social work
- Professional or academic experience contributing to applied research, program evaluation, performance measurement, administrative data analysis, public policy analysis, or closely related work
- Demonstrated experience cleaning and analyzing complex datasets using SPSS, R, or comparable statistical software (e.g., Stata, SAS, Python), including writing reproducible syntax or code
- Strong quantitative reasoning, including the ability to interpret results, investigate unexpected findings, recognize data quality concerns, and explain the implications and limitations of an analysis
- Experience producing accurate, well-documented work and conducting careful quality assurance reviews
- Ability to manage multiple assignments effectively and efficiently, both independently and collaboratively, while meeting deadlines and communicating proactively
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to convey methods, findings, limitations, and implications clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to establish constructive working relationships with colleagues and external partners
- Proficiency Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint, and comfort using online collaboration and project management tools such as Box, Slack, and AirTable
- Willingness and ability to travel to New York City at least once per year and limited travel to other project jurisdictions as needed
- Knowledge of child welfare systems, policies, data, or practice
- Experience analyzing child welfare, human services, education, or other public-sector administrative data
- Experience using analysis to inform service delivery, program improvement, system reform, or policy decision-making
- Experience with performance measurement, data validation, or independent verification of reported metrics
- Experience conducting qualitative or mixed-methods research, including interviews, focus groups, case reviews, or literature reviews
- Experience working with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, courts, or other public-sector partners
- Spanish or other language fluency
Benefits
- Health insurance
- Student loan repayment program
- Pre-tax flexible spending account
- Reimbursement for internet connection
- After one year, employees are eligible for 401(k) contributions
- After one year, employees are eligible for profit sharing
- After one year, employees are eligible for education benefits
- Generous holiday, vacation, personal, and sick time
- Opportunities to engage with government agencies, court monitoring teams, and other partners
- Action Research will invest in your professional growth and help you develop both technical skills and child welfare subject matter expertise
- Remote work
- A collaborative and flexible work environment
- Weekly “learning brunches” providing opportunities to share and explore interests
- Action Research covers business travel expenses
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