Survey Methodologist/Researcher

Position Description

The RAND Online Survey Panels seeks an early to mid-career Survey Methodologist to support the ongoing operations and functions of our panels. RAND operates four probability-based online survey panels, including the American Life Panel (general adult population) and three educator panels: the American Teacher Panel (28K members), American School Leader Panel (7.5K members), and American School District Panel (1K members). Additional panels may be added.

We are seeking a Masters/PhD survey methodologist to assist with all aspects of our panel operations including communicating with internal and external clients, panel member recruitment strategy and methods, sample design, survey planning and implementation, incentives, member retention, panel communication, data dissemination, weighting, and quality assurance. The successful candidate must be a team-oriented collaborator with the desire to innovate and experiment in a creative, dynamic research environment. This position has long-term career growth potential.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the current director to oversee the RAND online survey panel team (staff of about 10) and their functions including survey planning, survey programming, survey testing, help desk, data collection, data cleaning, deliverables preparation and delivery, panel recruitment and panelist retention, panel web pages, etc.
• In conjunction with the panel director, serve as the public face of the RAND panels, meet with potential and current internal and external clients to explain our panel capabilities and promote their use; entrepreneurially seek new opportunities to expand use of our existing panels and collaborate with others to potentially create new panels
• Work with the RAND IRB to ensure compliance with human research subject requirements, ensure team staff are familiar with data confidentiality procedures
• Collaborate with panel staff to disseminate deidentified data files through the ALP Data Pages and the AEP Data Portal; review and lead restricted data file dissemination
• Collaborate on proposals that will make use of the RAND panels
• Analyze data; contribute to written reports and other research products
• Conduct annual and mid-year budget planning for the panels, panel resources, and staff

Qualifications

• Demonstrated survey research experience conducting social science surveys.
• Demonstrated experience interfacing with clients to conduct survey research projects.
• Familiarity with online panel surveys and operations and with panel engagement and maintenance.
• Coursework in survey methodology, research design, sampling, and statistics.
• Demonstrated experience working in diverse, multi-disciplinary research teams.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize work and meet deadlines.
• Competency (or better) with statistical software packages such as Stata, R, SAS, etc.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate with researchers, program staff, and clients across a variety of organization types.
• Experience managing staff, delegating responsibilities, assigning staff work, and providing/maintaining tools in a shared resource environment to assist in project team management.

Education Requirements

• MA in survey methodology or data science or related field with minimum of 5-years experience conducting surveys in a research environment required;
• PhD in survey methodology, data science, sociology, political science, or related field with a minimum of 2-years experience conducting surveys in a research environment preferred.

Experience

• Minimum 5-years of experience designing, conducting, and analyzing data from surveys in a research environment.
• Experience in the non-profit, academic, government, and/or philanthropic sectors preferred.

Location

Santa Monica, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Boston, MA; or Washington DC. Hybrid work arrangements may be available.

Salary Range

Associate Researcher: $94,800 - $148,350

Full Researcher: $109,600 - $181,075

Hiring ranges for Economists, Management Scientists and Physician Researchers are slightly higher than the ranges shown.

RAND considers a variety of factors when formulating an offer, including but not limited to, the specific role and associated responsibilities; a candidate’s work experience, education/training, skills, expertise; and internal equity. Successful candidates will be offered employment as an Associate, Full, or Senior researcher in a specific title, as determined by the candidate's education and experience. The salary range includes base pay plus RAND’s sabbatic pay (which provides additional compensation above base pay when vacation is taken). In addition, RAND provides strong benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, paid time-off and more.

Application Materials

CV, cover letter, and a writing sample are required (PDF documents are preferred). A writing sample of 3 pages or more is required for this position. Applicants are encouraged to use recent pieces that have been published in academic or other journals but may use master’s theses or papers written for coursework, prior employment, or internships.

Successful applications will include documentation in the application package of academic and professional activities that meet stated qualifications.

Note that applicants invited to interview will be required to present a seminar describing recent research

Equal Opportunity Employer: race/color/religion/sex/sexual orientation/gender identity/national origin/disability/vet