DESCRIPTION

The Rady School of Management provides business education through its PhD program, Masters degree programs, undergraduate minors and courses, and executive business seminars. In addition to these educational programs, the Rady School includes the Beyster Institute, the California Institute of Innovation and Development, and the US Israel Center.

The Rady School's values are excellence, innovation, collaboration and integrity. The staff who work at the Rady School have created a highly participatory, high energy, upbeat environment where providing excellent customer service to our students and our faculty is a priority.

Under direct guidance of Rady School of Management faculty (Carlos Avenancio-Leon, Sally Sadoff, Anya Samek, and Marta Serra-Garcia), the Social Sciences Researcher applies acquired skills and knowledge of applicable research discipline to support field research projects of small to medium size and intermediate scope and complexity.

This position assists Rady School of Management with research projects and supports those projects, with data management and analysis support. The research projects have a strong focus on topics in education, health, housing, inequality, and racial, ethnic, and gender disparities. The research also has direct impacts for policy and practice.

The primary responsibilities include cleaning research data, analyzing data and engaging in field research, such as contacting study participants and conducting interviews or reaching out to schools and community organizations to request administrative data, transfer of data from a variety of sources.

The position conducts literature reviews and summarizes current/recent findings available in journal articles, enters research data and information into spreadsheets and systems, may prepare and review data for publication, assists with grant applications, may contribute to writing research progress reports, and performs other general administrative tasks related to the research project.

Projects the Researcher may work on include:

* Evaluating the educational investments that improve health outcomes for children

* Field studies investigating the impact of nudges on physical activity

* General behavioral/experimental economics or behavioral finance topics

* Field studies investigating the impact of nudges on physical activity

* Studies on the role of deception in advice-giving

* Studies on institutional power and economic inequality

* Studies documenting and quantifying the distributional impact of different policies related to housing and voting laws

* Studies investigating possible discrimination and disparities in small business lending

* Studies evaluating the effect of educational investments on health outcomes for children and young adults

* Studies documenting and quantifying the distributional impact of different policies related to (i) housing and (ii) voting along racial and ethnic lines including the distributional impact arising from property tax policy and from the Voting Rights Act.

• This is a 1-year contract position with the opportunity for renewal of an additional year depending on progress and funding. The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or equivalent experience/training, and will be seeking hands-on research experience prior to pursuing further graduate studies in economics, business, finance, or a related field.

• Position may start in July or September 2024 depending on the assigned research project(s).

• There are multiple hires for this position, with different possibilities for work arrangements: some positions will be virtual and/or hybrid work while others will be fully-in person.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Economics, Business, Finance, Social Sciences, Math, Computer Science or related field; or, an equivalent combination of knowledge and experience.

• Experience or college coursework in research design, data collection and processing, and data analysis.

• Experience with statistical software and analysis (e.g. with Stata, R, Python, Matlab, or Excel).

• Proficient research and analytical skills. Analytical and critical thinking skills to identify causal relationships, and to compile, synthesize, and interpret data and results. Theoretical knowledge to discern and document a pattern of results, and the theoretical knowledge to analyze results and data.

• Experience conducting thorough literature searches; experience locating and evaluating reliable, scholarly source materials.

• Experience with data entry, data collection, and data cleaning.

• Organizational and administrative skills to coordinate and track the many steps and tasks associated with a research project, including hiring student workers, creating simple budgets, learning university procedures, estimating timelines, Meticulous record keeping. Accuracy.

• Working knowledge of research discipline, principles, concepts, analysis and / or operations being conducted at field / remote sites.

• Prioritization and organizational skills. Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines with minimal supervision. Time management skills. Ability to to keep team updated on progress or anticipated barriers to progress.

PREFERRED

• Interest in obtaining hands-on research experience prior to pursuing further graduate studies in economics, business, finance or a related field.

• Previous education/interest/education in general behavioral/experimental economics or behavioral finance topics (examples among many topics: early education/educational investments that improve health outcomes for children; field studies investigating the impact of behavioral reminders on physical activity; the distributional impact of different policies related to (i) housing and (ii) voting along racial and ethnic lines related to property tax policy and from the Voting Rights Act)

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Job offer is contingent on clear Background Check.