Careers Job Description
General Description
The National Center for Child Welfare Excellence, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College through a partnership with the New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS) develops, implements, and evaluates the transfer of learning strategies for the ACS Workforce Institute. The ACS Workforce Institute (WI) is a state-of-the-art professional development institute that strengthens skills and provides support to child welfare and juvenile justice frontline staff as they strengthen and support New York City’s families and children. https://www.nycacstraining.org
Through a Memorandum of Agreement with the City University of New York (CUNY), the ACS Workforce Institute offers professional learning initiatives that move beyond the classroom to enhance skill development for new and seasoned ACS and provider agency staff. Through the Silberman School of Social Work and ACS partnership, the Senior Research Associate will join a dynamic team responsible for implementing and evaluating the Supporting Knowledge into Practice (SKIP) Initiative.
Project Description
The Senior Research Associate will work closely with an ACS WI/CUNY/Hunter Evaluation Team and other leaders in the ACS Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement to manage and analyze data generated from 10,000 participants annually through multiple surveys powered by Qualtrics. Personnel, learning management, and survey data are merged to understand the relative impact of individual characteristics, organizational characteristics, and reinforcement strategies on the transfer of learning of coaching skills by Supervisors and Managers and strengths-based engagement, assessment, and interpersonal helping skills by caseworkers and case planners. Participants are followed over time to assess the degree to which competent and consistent skills are applied to improve the overall quality of services provided by the public and private child welfare system in New York City.
The ACS WI/CUNY/Hunter Evaluation team uses the Kirkpatrick model of evaluating training efficacy to measure four levels: (1) reactions; (2) learning; (3) transfer; and (4) organizational outcomes. The evaluation team produces real-time reports and dashboards so that results will inform ongoing program development and quality improvement.
Position Description
The Senior Research Associate will join a team of CUNY colleagues working collaboratively with key stakeholders in the ACS Division of Child Protection, Division of Youth and Family Justice, the Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement, and Private Providers that implement foster care and preventive services to manage, analyze, and report on data from complex data systems.
Other Duties
- Cleaning and preparing case level administrative and survey data for analysis (i.e., importing, reshaping, recoding) in a streamlined and efficient manner.
- Developing data collection instruments and protocols using survey development and research design best practices
- Writing programming and syntax
- Creating a system for organizing and managing data files
- Following strict data security protocols
- Translating “conceptual/practical” needs from SKIP staff into a technical programming language
- Maintaining detailed documentation on all data management decisions and technical work
- Developing codebooks, file specifications, and other resource documents
- Conducting research reviews of training evaluation designs, measures, and analytic procedures.
- Preparing and collaborating on reports, manuscripts, and presentations for diverse stakeholders
- Overseeing data collection and analysis efforts to support data-driven decision making.
- Liaising with internal and external leadership to proactively troubleshoot barriers to evaluation.
- Public speaking, as needed, regarding the evaluation activities and results.
- Attending meetings with CUNY and ACS leadership, as required and necessary to fulfill the functions of this position.
Qualifications
- MA or Ph.D. in computer science, data analytics, data science, data/information management, or another related field.
- At least five years of experience doing data management and data analysis in an applied setting.
- Experience in information technology and/or database administration
- Excellent data management and analysis skills, including extensive experience cleaning, coding, merging, and analyzing large and complex quantitative and qualitative data files using statistical programs (e.g., SPSS, R, SAS, STATA) including fluency in programming/syntax.
- Competent and/or certified in Qualtrics Research Core, Employee Engagement, or Customer Engagement platforms is highly desired.
- A basic understanding of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems is a plus, but not a requirement.
- Sensitivity and experience working with diverse cultural and linguistic populations
- Excellent time management and organizational skills
- High degree of flexibility and maturity to work in an innovative, fast-paced environment and to readily embrace change
- An exceptional commitment to accuracy and attention to detail
- Ability to work on a team, as well as independently
- Strong written and oral communication skills and ability to effectively convey complex and data-related concepts to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences
- Ability to travel between program locations in NYC to observe, collect data, and support team members
- Experience with data visualization using dashboards and developing infographics is a plus.
- Expertise in evaluating unique learning experiences such as live simulations with actors or virtual reality experiences is a plus, but not required.
Hours: 35 hours/week (daily schedule 9am-5pm, with some occasional evening hours required).
Applicants are asked to submit a cover letter that details how your qualifications match this position description along with a resume, and contact information for three references.
All staff working on this project in partnership with the ACS WI will be employees of the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Employment is contingent on satisfactory clearances.
THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/ AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, E-VERIFY EMPLOYER.
RFCUNY Benefits
RFCUNY Employee Benefits and AccrualsAbout the Research Foundation
The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).
RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Key Features
Silberman School of Social Work
Full Time
$70,000.00 - $90,000.00
Jun 26, 2019 (Or Until Filled)