Public Affairs Specialist II

Location: Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Salary: $110,000.00 – $110,000.00

Position Summary
The Center’s U.S. survey methods team manages our American Trends Panel (ATP), a multi-mode, probability-based survey panel that is its primary source of survey data for U.S. public opinion research, as well as provide guidance for all of the Center’s domestic public opinion research. The Research Methodologist reports to the Associate Director for U.S. Survey Methods and works closely with the Principal Methodologist on sampling, weighting and other programming-intensive duties.

The Research Methodologist performs a range of duties to support the evolving needs of the Center’s survey methods team. These duties include, but are not limited to, data management, data wrangling, sampling, weighting, quality checking, data and questionnaire archiving, and supporting the ATP Panel Manager as needed during survey preparation and fielding. Furthermore, the Research Methodologist may support research and experimentation in the field of survey methodology, such as survey nonresponse, question wording effects, and nonprobability surveys.

Primary Responsibilities

Draw and check complex survey samples

Create and check survey weights in R

Analysis of weighted survey data in R

Managing survey data in R (especially cleaning, merging and recoding variables)

Assist with the operation of the American Trends Panel including sampling, weighting, quality checking online survey programming, and production support

Conduct ad hoc analyses for research and methods teams with oversight from the Principal Methodologist or Associate Director

Write methodology sections for reports and maintain methodology-related materials on the website

Maintain survey question archive

Maintain familiarity with the latest developments in survey methodology

Education/Training/Experience

Strong proficiency programming in the R statistical programming language is required (beginner level R users would not be a fit for this role).

Some familiarity with SPSS is also a plus.

3-5 years research experience, including 2-3 years of professional experience with the execution of probability-based complex survey designs (e.g., drawing stratified samples, constructing weights) and incorporation of complex sample designs in analysis (e.g., using weighted data).

1-3 years experience with survey logistics (e.g., testing web survey instruments).

B.A. degree in survey methodology, statistics or quantitative social science field is required, advanced degree strongly preferred.

Knowledge & Skills Requirements

Ability to work well in a team setting

Interest in public opinion and polling required

Strong familiarity with more advanced operations in R, such as wrangling data with the tidyverse or equivalent frameworks, writing custom functions, and writing reproducible code, is preferred.

Familiarity with accessing and working with national public datasets and statistical databases preferred.

A “numbers person” with strong quantitative and survey statistical skills

Detail oriented with exacting standards to maintain accuracy and impartiality in all work products

Problem solving skills, such as being able to properly diagnose and debug unexpected results or errors, preferred.

Strong verbal and written communications skills

Interest in expanding skills to cover new analytical tools and methods

Ability to balance numerous tasks simultaneously and meet tight deadlines

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