Research Analyst

Action Research works with child welfare systems across the country, providing research, data analysis, and strategic support to strengthen policy and practice and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families. We partner with government leaders, frontline staff, think tanks, service providers, lived experience experts, and foundations to generate insights and drive system reform. We are nationally recognized for our child welfare expertise and for translating rigorous research and analysis into practical guidance for child welfare leaders. Who we are looking for Action Research seeks an enthusiastic, curious, and self-motivated individual with strong quantitative analytic skills and experience contributing to applied research or policy analysis. The Research Analyst will primarily support system-level child welfare reform efforts arising from federal class action litigation, with a focus on analyzing administrative data, validating performance measures, and assessing states’ progress toward reform goals. The candidate must have professional experience with applied research and some knowledge of child welfare systems. This is an excellent opportunity for an early- to mid-career applied researcher who wants to strengthen their analytic skills, contribute to consequential public sector work, and develop a rich understanding of child welfare reform efforts across multiple jurisdictions. Ideal candidates will have: A commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children, youth, and families - you recognize that involvement with the child welfare system can have lasting effects on children and families and are committed to advancing work that helps children remain safe, stable, and connected to family; A dedication to using data to generate actionable insights - you see data as a powerful tool for understanding how systems operate, assessing progress, and informing change; Strong analytic reasoning - you are curious about the story behind the data, able to identify patterns and inconsistencies, and interested in understanding what findings mean in practice; Strong task management skills - you have experience managing multiple tasks across projects, meeting deadlines, and communicating proactively about progress, competing priorities, and emerging concerns; Great attention to detail - you recognize the importance of getting it right, and are comfortable operating on a team where we check and recheck our work; Comfort working both independently and collaboratively - you can advance tasks on your own, are excited to collaborate with others, know when to ask colleagues for support, and contribute actively to the communication and camaraderie that sustain a small, fully remote team; and A learning mindset - you are comfortable entering unfamiliar substantive areas, asking thoughtful questions, and steadily building the knowledge needed to produce sound analysis. We are committed to inclusion, embrace diversity as an organization, and believe these values are essential to our work. The American child welfare system has a history of disproportionately impacting families of color, low-income communities, and LGBTQ+ youth. As an organization working to make child welfare systems more responsive to children, youth and families and more effective in its services and operations, we believe our staff should reflect diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. Role you would play Working with a small, dedicated team, the Research Analyst will analyze administrative data and support the assessment of child welfare system performance across multiple jurisdictions. The primary responsibility in this role is to support reform efforts initiated through federal class action litigation and settlement agreements. In several states and localities, child advocates have sued public child welfare systems in federal class action lawsuits. The lawsuits focus on issues such as the safety of children in foster care, the services received by children and their families, and the availability of appropriate and stable foster care homes. In many states, court-appointed monitors oversee the implementation of reforms resulting from these lawsuits and settlement agreements. Action Research supports court monitoring teams in four states: Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, and Texas. We analyze administrative data, assess data quality, and independently validate calculations used to measure system performance and reform progress. Our analysis helps ensure that court monitors, judges, state child welfare leaders, and other partners have accurate and useful information about the progress of reform and outcomes for children and families. Specific activities may include but are not limited to the following: Data cleaning and quality assessment - cleaning, organizing, and documenting administrative data; identifying and resolving errors, inconsistencies, duplicates, missing values, and formatting issues; and assessing the data’s completeness, reliability, and suitability for analysis. Data analysis - writing and executing reproducible, well-documented syntax or code to analyze large and complex administrative datasets accurately and efficiently. Performance validation - replicating and independently validating performance calculations submitted by public agencies. Quality assurance - reviewing data, code, calculations, tables, written findings, and colleagues’ analytic work for accuracy, consistency, and clarity. Communicating findings - interpreting analytic results and translating them into clear technical memos, internal materials, public reports, presentations, and other products for technical and nontechnical audiences. Partner engagement - presenting and discussing analytic findings with colleagues, court monitoring teams, government agencies, and other partners. Reform monitoring - tracking developments in state and local reform efforts and preparing background materials for meetings with state and monitoring teams. Project coordination - maintaining workplans and documentation, coordinating project activities, and communicating proactively about progress, risks, and competing priorities. Qualitative research - as needed, supporting interviews, focus groups, case reviews, desk research, and literature reviews and synthesizing key insights for project teams and partners. Project learning and improvement - helping project teams connect analytic findings to emerging questions, decisions, and next steps. Knowledge sharing - sharing analytic approaches, documentation, strategies, and lessons with colleagues to strengthen practice across the organization. Specific requirements Bachelor’s degree and at least four years of relevant professional experience, or master’s degree and at least two years of relevant professional experience. Relevant fields may include public policy, data science, economics, sociology, public health, public administration, social work; Professional or academic experience contributing to applied research, program evaluation, performance measurement, administrative data analysis, public policy analysis, or closely related work; Demonstrated experience cleaning and analyzing complex datasets using SPSS, R, or comparable statistical software (e.g., Stata, SAS, Python), including writing reproducible syntax or code; Strong quantitative reasoning, including the ability to interpret results, investigate unexpected findings, recognize data quality concerns, and explain the implications and limitations of an analysis; Experience producing accurate, well-documented work and conducting careful quality assurance reviews; Ability to manage multiple assignments effectively and efficiently, both independently and collaboratively, while meeting deadlines and communicating proactively; Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to convey methods, findings, limitations, and implications clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences; Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to establish constructive working relationships with colleagues and external partners; Proficiency Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint, and comfort using online collaboration and project management tools such as Box, Slack, and AirTable; and Willingness and ability to travel to New York City at least once per year and limited travel to other project jurisdictions as needed. Action Research covers business travel expenses. Additional valued strengths that appreciated but not required Knowledge of child welfare systems, policies, data, or practice; Experience analyzing child welfare, human services, education, or other public-sector administrative data; Experience using analysis to inform service delivery, program improvement, system reform, or policy decision-making; Experience with performance measurement, data validation, or independent verification of reported metrics; Experience conducting qualitative or mixed-methods research, including interviews, focus groups, case reviews, or literature reviews; and Experience working with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, courts, or other public-sector partners; Spanish or other language fluency. What you can expect from Action Research Salary range - $61,000 to $75,000 depending on skills and level of experience. Excellent benefits competitive with national high-quality research organizations - Benefits include health insurance, student loan repayment program, pre-tax flexible spending account, and reimbursement for internet connection. After one year, employees are eligible for 401(k) contributions, profit sharing, and education benefits. Action Research also provides generous holiday, vacation, personal, and sick time. Intentional professional development - As part of a small and active team, the Research Analyst will have opportunities to engage with government agencies, court monitoring teams, and other partners. Action Research will invest in your professional growth and help you develop both technical skills and child welfare subject matter expertise. A collaborative and flexible work environment - Action Research staff work remotely, but we maintain an active and highly collaborative team environment with regular interaction. You will get to know your colleagues through weekly learning brunches which provide opportunities to share and explore interests, including those that may not be apparent in our day-to-day work. About Action Research Our work spans a range of child welfare policy and practice areas, including child maltreatment, foster home recruitment, kinship care, placement stability, permanency, and prevention services, among other areas. We tailor each project to the needs of our partners and produce accessible findings that system leaders, program staff, and funders can use to make concrete decisions. We help develop and launch strategies to analyze system outcomes and performance. We design and support systems that use administrative data to allow leadership and staff to monitor progress, strengthen services, and improve outcomes. We conduct operational and exploratory research to understand how child welfare policies, practices, and systems are functioning, translate findings into strategic recommendations, and then help our partners use those recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families. We evaluate program models and interventions to learn what is working and where improvement is still needed. We combine quantitative and qualitative techniques to understand programs within their particular histories, operating environments, strengths, and challenges. We are committed to creating strong relationships with our partners. We invest in building trust with stakeholders, seek to minimize the burden of research on operations, and communicate actionable insights as they develop. Across our work, we have a reputation as a neutral provider of information: a place that the child welfare community can rely on for accurate, reliable, and useful information. Action Research is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender expression, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status or caregiver status. #J-18808-Ljbffr