United Spinal Association Jobs

Throughout its 75-year history, the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) has administered numerous externally funded projects serving children and families. The Butler Institute for Families (Butler), established in 1994, is affiliated with GSSW and is nationally recognized for our leadership and collaborative work at the national, state, and local level in evaluation, research, and technical assistance aimed at improving the quality of child-, youth-, and fami

We bring together researchers, practitioners, public and private service system experts, and community members to: engage in program evaluation and research; examine outcomes; and provide technical assistance and training to program administrators, direct service providers, and community leaders. Currently, Butler conducts business in four primary content areas: child welfare, early childhood systems, tribal child welfare, and behavioral health. These content areas operate within a Research-to-Practice framework that promotes the use, adoption, adaptation, replication, and scaling of research and/or evaluation knowledge, and the integration of this knowledge in practice.

In addition to the benefits offered by the University of Denver (see here for more details: https://www.du.edu/jobs/), Butler offers the opportunity to work with a dedicated group of people committed to using research and evaluation to inform practice and practice to inform research and evaluation. We also offer professional development and job growth opportunities, flexible schedules, and the opportunity to work remotely.

Butler stands in solidarity against the systemic oppression of persons of color and American Indian/Alaska Native tribes, communities, and individuals. Butler intentionally partners with family and child serving agencies to create healing, positive systemic change and daily inclusive actions that reflect racial equity. This is a grant-funded position, and while Butler often has new projects that can replace a project that ends, Butler cannot guarantee positions after the end of grant-funding.

Position Summary

This position will serve full-time as a Research Assistant II supporting several grant-funded evaluation projects across Butler's content areas. Under supervision, this position involves data collection, data entry, data coding and cleaning, running basic statistics, assisting with project reports and literature reviews, and other administrative and research support tasks as needed. The Research Assistant II has 1-2 years of previous professional research and evaluation experience focused on data collection and management. This position may be responsible for supervision of work-study students. The Research Assistant II will report to a Research Associate or Senior Research Associate at the Butler Institute for Families.

Essential Functions

• Under supervision of a Research Associate, coordinate data collection activities as a member of project-based research and evaluation teams.
• Draft and submit Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications.
• Schedule interviews and focus groups.
• Build surveys in the Qualtrics online platform, and format and distribute paper surveys.
• Conduct structured interviews, in-person or by phone; support focus groups by recording, taking detailed notes, and managing logistical functions.
• Administer research incentives, including coordinating gift card tracking and distribution.
• Enter, clean, and manage data. May include manual data entry, scanning surveys into Remark , tracking response rates, and cleaning data sets prior to analysis.
• Prepare qualitative data for analysis, including transcribing or coordinating with transcription services, and managing qualitative data files.
• Conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.
• Code qualitative data and identify themes.
• Conduct literature searches.
• Assist with designing, formatting, development, editing and revision of reports, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations.
• Draft sections of reports and articles.
• Take increasing responsibility for initiating and coordinating data collection and management activities.
• Supervise work-study students or temporary employees, as needed.

• Provide evaluation and research support in other areas upon request, such as generating meeting minutes, attending internal and external meetings, and other administrative duties as needed. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to draft effective email correspondence

• Strong interpersonal skills; ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and with research and evaluation participants, sponsors, and university staff
• Exceptional project coordination and task-management skills
• Ability to approach work with diverse communities with respect and humility, as a listener and learner
• Eagerness to learn and grow new research and evaluation skills
• Ability to listen to, respect, and honor different viewpoints and perspectives
• Ability to conceptualize, analyze, and strategize
• Ability to conduct and interpret basic statistical analyses (frequencies, means, t-tests) and qualitative data
• Ability to independently code and categorize qualitative data
• Ability to multi-task and balance a variety of projects
• Ability to identify problems and initiate solutions
• Ability to discern relevance and/or importance of research findings
• Ability to read and interpret research literature
• Ability to draft narrative reports Required Qualifications