Staff Associate II - The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York

Overview

This Staff Associate II position provides research support as a Programmer/Data Manager to support two data collection projects that are part of the Survey of Parents and Families, a multigenerational, longitudinal cohort study of family life, health, and wellbeing. These projects conduct surveys with young adults who have children, collect biological specimens from eligible study participants and their children and partners, and conduct virtual educational and psychological assessments with young children. The projects are led by Dr. Julien Teitler.

The Staff Associate II will have primary responsibility for survey programming and data management using specialized software (Voxco, REDCap, Stata). Responsibilities will also include field data management for the Poverty Tracker project, also housed at CPRC. The position requires close and effective collaboration with the study team as well as exceptional technical and independent problem-solving skills.

Duties

(1)Survey programming using Voxco (25%)

The incumbent will use the Voxco survey platform to program and modify online and phone surveys as needed.

(2)Field data management for FF projects (20%)

The incumbent will maintain field databases, using Voxco, REDCap, and Stata to update contact and survey information and produce survey panel files.

(3)Developing quality assurance systems for validating and checking data (10%)

The incumbent will conduct regular reviews of data quality and missingness and work with the investigators and field coordinator to develop solutions to improve the quality and completeness of the data.

(4)Documentation of the survey data (25%)

In collaboration with study investigators, the incumbent will describe the methodology used in data collection, document survey outcomes and final response rates, define variables and response categories in the resulting datasets, and align the data and documentation with FFCWS standards for archiving data.

(5)Field data management for the Poverty Tracker study (20%)

Working with Neckerman, field director for Poverty Tracker, and the Poverty Tracker research staff, the incumbent will maintain the study's field databases, incorporating updates from surveys and other resources on a weekly basis.

This position will train and supervise student research assistants

MininumQualifications

Bachelor's degree in a social science or related discipline. For candidates with BA, two to four years of work experience in an academic or survey research setting.

Specific skills and/or knowledge required for the position.

Required:

Strong research, interpersonal, analytical, and organizational skills

Strong written and oral communication skills

Strong teamwork skills

Intermediate expertise with statistical software such as Stata, R, SAS, or SPSS

Strong independent learning and problem-solving skills

Strongly preferred:

Experience with survey and data management software such as Qualtrics, REDCap, or Voxco

Experience with survey-based data collection

Experience with data management and documentation

Experience overseeing datasets with complex survey structure

Experience conducting quantitative social science research

Expertise with Stata