Posted December 19, 2023 Date: December 2023 Title: Research Associate Department: Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research & Education School: Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences Location: Mandel Community Studies Center Supervisor Name and Title: Jeff Kretschmar, Research Associate Professor, Managing Director POSITION OBJECTIVE The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research & Education is home to a multi-disciplinary team of faculty, researchers, and training and technical assistance providers in many areas including violence prevention, adult and youth mental health and substance use, youth and adult specialty courts, trauma, and community-based evaluation. Working with a high degree of independence, the incumbent will carry out, manage, or lead program evaluation projects in areas related to social behavioral science and the justice system on various grant funded projects at the Begun Center, including the evaluation of Ohio's Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice (BHJJ) initiative, a diversion program for justice-involved youth with behavioral health issues (https://case.edu/socialwork/begun/research-and-evaluation/juvenile-justice/ohios-behavioral-healthjuvenile-justice-initiative-bhjj). The research associate will provide input and recommendations to the principal investigator regarding significant developments in research projects; project management, data coding, management, and analysis of databases; coordinating major activities of research staff; co-authoring reports and manuscripts; and meeting regularly with nonprofits, agencies, justice system partners, and other government agencies to provide information and technical assistance. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS Manage the day-to-day evaluation of various research projects and assist with comprehensive program evaluation, report preparation and writing. Projects may involve assessing organizational capacity and providing technical assistance to agencies as it relates to program evaluation. Track and follow up on daily project operations. (65%) Establish and maintain relationships with external partners and sponsors and collaborate with them to create grant proposals and launch new evaluation projects with very little supervision. External partners include but not limited to local and state government, foundations, non-profit community-based agencies, etc. (15%) Research and develop/create evaluation instruments/surveys. Develop databases/spreadsheets and carry out complex on-going and new data analyses within the research projects using SPSS or similar statistical analysis software. Create data visualizations for inclusion in project reports or websites using software such as Power BI or Tableau. (20%) NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS Perform other duties as assigned. May supervise students. CONTACTS Department: Daily contact with supervisor and research staff in the center. University: Occasional contact with other departments. External: Frequent contact with community partners. Students: Contact with student employees. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY No direct supervisory responsibility; may direct the work of students and research assistants. QUALIFICATIONS Education/Experience: Master's Degree or higher in the social sciences or relevant field is required. Experience working in funded evaluation/research, with non-profit and government or county agencies, or conducting/participating in program evaluations is required. REQUIRED SKILLS Ability to work closely with justice- and community-based agencies. Highly organized with strong quantitative skills. Ability to create IRB applications for new projects and monitor compliance for existing projects. Ability to assist with both the development and execution of program evaluations. Experience in Microsoft Suite (Word, Ac