Research Associate-Social Work Office of Research & Public Service-UTK

Research Associate-Social Work Office of Research & Public Service-UTK

University of Tennessee Chattanooga Knoxville, TN Full-time Research & Development

Posted on May 22, 2025

Job Description

SWORPS Division of Applied Research and Evaluation (DARE) is seeking a highly motivated and collaborative individual to fill the position of a Full Time Research Associate (RA) to assist with ongoing research projects. The RA will contribute to a variety of research projects from proposal to publication. DARE currently offers applied research and program evaluation in several closely related fields including early childhood education, child welfare, public health, K-12 education, and support for non-custodial care-givers. This candidate would likely begin work focused on the early childhood context but their portfolio of work may soon grow beyond ECE depending upon need.

SWORPS Division of Applied Research and Evaluation (DARE) is seeking a highly motivated and collaborative individual to fill the position of a Full Time Research Associate (RA) to assist with ongoing research projects. The RA will contribute to a variety of research projects from proposal to publication. DARE currently offers applied research and program evaluation in several closely related fields including early childhood education, child welfare, public health, K-12 education, and support for non-custodial care-givers. This candidate would likely begin work focused on the early childhood context but their portfolio of work may soon grow beyond ECE depending upon need.

Responsibilities

Support the development of new research projects and grant opportunities by conducting literature reviews based on interests of client to identify new opportunities

Conduct background research for literature reviews and needs assessments in order to provide senior staff with complete written drafts of literature reviews for client facing documents

Assist with the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, including preliminary survey development in order to organize and do initial analyzing of data to assist senior researchers

Solve complex and varied problems using qualitative and quantitative methods

Provide professional contributions including but not limited to reviewing documents prior to submission to client, organizing and checking source materials and reference list and preparing supporting documents for grant submissions for research programs and projects requiring specialized knowledge and experience or expertise in a specific field of study.

Perform components of a research program independently or with guidance from a senior member of the research team or principal investigator

Contribute to the work of other researchers to complete projects

Communicate effectively with team members as well as members of partner organizations

Draft emails, memos, reports, help arrange focus groups, travel documentation for research team, communicating with partners organizing joint meetings and events as well as other tasks needed to support the work of the Applied Research Team

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Education: Masters Degree

Experience: 2 years experience in conducting original research either independently or under senior researchers

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment visa status.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

Ability to perform complex research-related work assignments.

Experience in solving a range of straightforward problems that may include proposing and implementing procedural and design modifications.

Makes independent judgments and decisions, including theoretical approaches, design of experiments and conclusions.

Ability to perform research tasks independently, or with limited supervision.

Advanced data analysis (qualitative or quantitative)

Basic knowledge of statistical software including SPSS, R, Tableau, PowerBI

Preferred Qualifications

Education: Doctoral Degree

Experience: 3 - 5 years experience conducting independent research and furthering an identifiable research agenda

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: Data management experience

Work Location

Location: position is fully remote

Compensation and Benefits

UT market range: MR 08

Anticipated hiring range: Around 75% of the range

Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

Applications will be reviewed as received and interviews can begin as soon as 7 days from posting.

Interested individuals should provide the following:

Resume

Cover Letter

List of 3 Professional References

About The College/Department/Division

The Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS) is an applied research center of the University of Tennessee College of Social Work (CSW). We are a dynamic and close-knit interdisciplinary team of individuals with a shared vision of thriving communities with equitable outcomes for all. We do that by building partnerships that leverage research, technology, and human connection to improve lives in Tennessee and beyond.

Over the past fifty years, SWORPS has worked with local nonprofits such as the United Way of Greater Knoxville, University of Tennessee departments and faculty researchers, state agencies such as the Tennessee Department of Human Services, and federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Our annual portfolio consists of 25-40 sponsored projects spanning a wealth of different content areas, but one common thread -each project contributes one more building block for thriving communities with equitable outcomes for all.

Learn more about SWORPS and some of our programs and resources by visiting our webpage:

University of Tennessee Chattanooga

Knoxville , TN