Research Assistant

The Well-Being for Early Learning (WELLab) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education is seeking a qualified full-timeResearch Assistant who will closely work on research projects focused on early care and education, early childhood workforce development, Head Start teachers’ well-being, and children’s school readiness. WELLab studies health and well-being of young children, families, and early childhood educators. We strive to better understand factors that are related to children’s development, particularly for children from low-resourced backgrounds. A large part of our work focuses on early childhood educators’ social-emotional well-being and how this is related to children’s social-emotional development. Our lab also works to promote equity in early childhood access and quality of educational and social services. WELLab maintains a number of collaborative partnerships with early childhood organizations in our community. In doing so, we hope to more effectively translate our research findings into valuable contributions towards improving the health, education, and wellbeing of children, caregivers, and communities. Review of applications will begin immediately. This position reports to the Principal Investigator of WELLab, Dr. Lieny Jeon. The position offers Johns Hopkins full-time staff benefits.

This position’s primary focus will be overall project management, data collection and management, statistical analysis and interpretation, and research dissemination. This position will be primarily involved in the development and refinement process of a teacher well-being intervention that focuses on Head Start teachers’ holistic well-being. The intervention will be implemented and tested in Baltimore City Head Start settings. The primary research responsibilities of this position include working with a team of researchers and practitioners in coordination with a multitude of internal and external key stakeholders to conduct/stay abreast of research – both qualitative and quantitative, formative evaluation, and validation activities, and to disseminate findings in traditional and novel ways that inform the broader field, including practitioners and policymakers, on what practices to implement.

*This position will remain open until filled.

*This position is grant-funded and can be renewed annually through June 2024.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

Specific duties may include but not limited to:

• Provide project management for research or evaluation projects including establishing project timelines and ensuring timelines are met
• Guide team member tasks and activities on projects
• Coordinate various project meetings
• Participate in framing of research and evaluation questions
• Participate in intervention development and refinement processes
• Assist in developing data collection protocols, tools and methodologies
• Assist with IRB submission and compliance
• Recruiting and communicating with research participants (in-person and virtual)
• Participate in conducting surveys, interviews and focus groups

• Verify the validity of data and managing/entering/cleaning data
• Conduct statistical analyses and interpretation activities using quantitative data under guidance from the Principal Investigator and other senior research staff
• Transcribing, coding and analyzing qualitative data
• Presenting data in written reports, infographics, PowerPoint presentations and other dissemination methods
• Communicating and disseminating research and evaluation findings to different audiences
• Contribute to writing of reports, publications, grant proposals, and dissemination materials
• Present research findings at conferences or other dissemination events
• participating in the development and presentation of results to key stakeholders, funders, and other audiences
• Supervise one or more research assistants, GRAs, and/or undergraduate/master’s students
• Executing research studies and making high level decisions about project direction and scope
• Maintain positive working relationships with clients, research participants, early childhood programs (e.g., Head Start programs), and other key project stakeholders

Minimum Qualifications (Mandatory):

• Bachelors Degree in related discipline
• Some related experience.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree early Childhood Education, Psychology, Counseling, School Psychology, Human Development and Family Science, Child Development or related field
• 2 years of experience in program evaluation or social sciences research, including evaluation planning, design, data collection, data management, and quantitative analysis

• 3 or more years of experience in program evaluation or social sciences research; experience managing evaluation projects and project teams
• Knowledge of early care and education, particularly Head Start programs
• Experience in, understanding and meeting the needs of all learners and their staff and caregivers; including children living in poverty, and children from diverse cultures and backgrounds; with a preference for those who have also led/taught others in these practices
• Experience designing and administering web-based surveys, creating logic models and theories of change, and synthesizing information from literature reviews
• Experience analyzing qualitative and qualitative data
• Experience working with grant funded environments in government, nonprofit, or university settings
• Experience with data visualization software, such as Tableau

Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Have practical understanding of the field of early care and education, a commitment to promoting well-being of children, families, and early childhood educators, and a comfort-level with and open-mind toward innovative research ideas
• Possess strong written and verbal communication skills, quantitative and qualitative analytic skills, collegiality, and a desire to do practical research and evaluation that makes a real difference in the field
• Project management skills with multiple stakeholders and tasks involved
• Ability to tactfully hold project members and leadership accountable to deadlines
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize competing timelines and project deliverables
• In-depth knowledge of child- and family-serving systems
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for participants recruitment, research implementaton, preparing reports, presentations, and grant application, as well as coordinating and communicating with project team and multiple professional and lay stakeholders
• Statistical analysis and interpretation abilities
• Reasoning ability at a Master’s level required
• Broad array of research and presentation skills, including data collection and management, statistical analysis (including proficiency in SPSS, STATA and/or other statistical analysis packages), proficiency with Microsoft Excel, and web-based survey design
• Detail-oriented
• Ability to facilitate constructive interpersonal interaction and teamwork
• Strong critical thinking and solution-building skills
• Ability to work with members of diverse cultures and communities with respect and humility
• Must be able to work with teams and independently in a fast-paced environment and meet project deadlines
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Physical Requirements:

• Standard office environment
• Noise level is moderate at office location
• Must be able to make trips to Baltimore Head Start or other child care centers
• Ability to sit in front of a computer for an extended period of time

JHU Equivalency Formula: 30 undergraduate degree credits (semester hours) or 18 graduate degree credits may substitute for one year of experience.  Additional related experience may substitute for the required education on the same basis. For jobs where equivalency is permitted, up to two years of non-related college course work may be applied towards the total minimum education/experience required for the respective job.

Classified Title: Research Assistant
Role/Level/Range: ACRO37.5/03/CD
Starting Salary Range: $20.51 - $22.57/hr (commensurate with experience)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: 37.5/ Monday - Friday
Exempt Status: Non-Exempt
Location: ​​​​​​​Homewood Campus
Department name: ​​​​​​​Educator Preparation Programs
Personnel area: School of Education

The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.

If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office atjhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.

Johns Hopkins has mandated COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, as applicable. Exceptions to the COVID and flu vaccine requirements may be provided to individuals for religious beliefs or medical reasons or because the individual is pregnant or attempting to become pregnant. Requests for an exception must be submitted to the JHU vaccination registry. For additional information, applicants for SOM positions should visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/and all other JHU applicants should visit https://covidinfo.jhu.edu/health-safety/covid-vaccination-information/.

The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work. Your recruiter will advise accordingly.

The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.

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