Description

Professor Brendan Nyhan , a political scientist in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, invites applications for a research fellow. Nyhan studies of voter confidence, misinformation, and related topics. The position includes working with Nyhan and Professor John Carey , another political scientist in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, on a survey that would be conducted by Bright Line Watch , an organization that researches the state of democracy in the United States.

The fellow’s responsibilities include:

• Providing primary research and writing support for a planned white paper on the state of scientific knowledge about the factors affecting confidence in U.S. elections and how to most effectively promote trust in the system
  
  
• Supporting the development and fielding of surveys by Nyhan and Bright Line Watch, including survey design, pre-testing, data collection, and analysis.
  
  
• Collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data measuring online (mis)information exposure and dissemination from Twitter and online panels.
  
  
• Conducting research to support public reports and scholarly articles by Nyhan and Bright Line Watch, including literature reviews, writing/editing, creating graphs, and estimating models.
  
  
• Providing administrative support for Nyhan and conducting outreach to external audiences.
  
  
• Managing coding projects classifying text, images, and/or videos using undergraduate research assistants.
  
  
• Other projects to be determined.
  
  

The fellowship requires a one-year commitment, from May 2023 to April 2024. (The exact start and end dates are negotiable.)

The research fellow will be in residence at Dartmouth College and will be provided with institutional affiliation (including library and computing resources), access to shared work space, and the opportunity to attend academic events at Dartmouth. The fellow is also eligible to enroll in or audit one class per academic term without paying tuition fees.

The fellowship requires a commitment to work 40 hours per week on research under the supervision of Nyhan. Salary is $47,500.

Qualifications

The research fellowship is designed for a scholar who:

• Has completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree in political science or a related field;
  
  
• Intends to pursue graduate studies in political science or a related field or to work in data science;
  
  
• Has developed strong skills in data management, analysis, and visualization, including extensive experience with R, Stata, and/or Python;
  
  
• Has strong substantive interests in research on misinformation, voter confidence, and/or democratic erosion;
  
  
• Wants additional experience in research design, data analysis, and project management;
  
  
• Is prepared to work independently in a fast-paced, dynamic research environment.
  
  

Application Instructions

Applicants should provide the following information via Interfolio. Review of applications will begin on March 30, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled:

Required documents to submit:

• Resume or CV - make sure to include the following:
  
  
  1. Name
     
     
  2. Email and phone/text contact
     
     
  3. Current position, or academic affiliation
     
     
  4. Date of (expected) undergraduate degree
     
     
  5. Academic concentration(s)
     
     
  6. List all academic classes (and final grades) you have completed that focus primarily on statistics, computer science, data visualization, applied mathematics, or other quantitative research methods.
     
     
  7. Briefly describe your data management and analysis skills. Include programming languages and/or software and levels of proficiency.
     
     
  8. Briefly describe any experience in conducting or assisting original social science research. If you worked as a research assistant, include the name and contact information for the faculty member or your direct supervisor.
     
     
• Most recent academic transcript (undergraduate or graduate)
  
  
• Brief personal statement describing your educational and career goals and how the position would advance them (maximum 200 words)
  
  
• A writing sample from a social science class demonstrating your ability to synthesize the findings of quantitative research and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses
  
  

Optional:

• If you have conducted original quantitative social science research yourself or in collaboration with other authors, you may submit it as a separate writing sample.
  
  

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Dartmouth College is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. We prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other category protected by applicable law, in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, employment, or other school administered programs. Applications by members of all underrepresented groups are encouraged.

If you are an applicant with a disability and need accommodations to assist in the job application or interview process, please email ADA.Institutional.Diversity.and.Equity@Dartmouth.edu . In the subject line, please state “Application Accommodations” and include the job number or title. Someone from the ADA Compliance Office will be in touch within 2 business days.

For additional employment opportunities at Dartmouth College, please visit the Dartmouth Interfolio Job Board , the Office of the Provost , and the Office of Human Resources .

Offers of employment are contingent upon consent to a pre-employment background check with results acceptable under Dartmouth policy. Please visit the Office of Human Resources for details.

All Dartmouth College employees must comply with the College’s health and safety guidelines and protocols, including but not limited to those related to COVID-19, such as any testing, masking, or distancing requirements that may be in place at any given time or place.