[Hiring] Research Analyst @Action Research

Role Description

Action Research seeks an enthusiastic, curious, and self-motivated individual with strong quantitative analytic skills and experience contributing to applied research or policy analysis. The Research Analyst will primarily support system-level child welfare reform efforts arising from federal class action litigation, with a focus on analyzing administrative data, validating performance measures, and assessing states’ progress toward reform goals.

This is an excellent opportunity for an early- to mid-career applied researcher who wants to strengthen their analytic skills, contribute to consequential public sector work, and develop a rich understanding of child welfare reform efforts across multiple jurisdictions.

• Working with a small, dedicated team, the Research Analyst will analyze administrative data and support the assessment of child welfare system performance across multiple jurisdictions.
• The primary responsibility in this role is to support reform efforts initiated through federal class action litigation and settlement agreements.
• Action Research supports court monitoring teams in four states: Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, and Texas.

Specific activities may include but are not limited to the following:

• 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.

Qualifications

• A commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children, youth, and families.
• A dedication to using data to generate actionable insights.
• Strong analytic reasoning.
• Strong task management skills.
• Great attention to detail.
• Comfort working both independently and collaboratively.
• A learning mindset.

Requirements

• 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).
• Strong quantitative reasoning.
• Experience producing accurate, well-documented work and conducting careful quality assurance reviews.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments effectively and efficiently.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Willingness and ability to travel to New York City at least once per year and limited travel to other project jurisdictions as needed.

Benefits

• Salary range – $61,000 to $75,000 depending on skills and level of experience.
• Excellent benefits competitive with national high-quality research organizations – Benefits include health insurance, student loan repayment program, pre-tax flexible spending account, and reimbursement for internet connection.
• After one year, employees are eligible for 401(k) contributions, profit sharing, and education benefits.
• Generous holiday, vacation, personal, and sick time.
• Intentional professional development opportunities.
• A collaborative and flexible work environment.

Company Description

Action Research works with child welfare systems across the country, providing research, data analysis, and strategic support to strengthen policy and practice and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families.

• We partner with government leaders, frontline staff, think tanks, service providers, lived experience experts, and foundations to generate insights and drive system reform.
• We are nationally recognized for our child welfare expertise and for translating rigorous research and analysis into practical guidance for child welfare leaders.