Research Coordinator

Description

foundry
10 is an education research organization with a philanthropic focus on expanding ideas about learning and creating direct value for youth. In collaboration with a wide range of partners, we surface, evaluate, and share opportunities to better support youth learning both inside and outside the classroom. Building on more than a decade of impactful work, our unique approach blends applied and experimental research, philanthropy, and education programs rooted in evidence-based best practices.

We are seeking a Research Coordinator for the Conceptual Development Lab (CDL), reporting to the CDL Senior Researcher, Kara Weisman.

Research in the Conceptual Development Lab focuses on how people learn to represent and reason about abstract concepts, and how educators and parents/caregivers can support conceptual development among young children. Recent projects have investigated preschoolers’ early number knowledge and caregivers’ beliefs about play. New lines of work might focus on children’s developing representations of minds, bodies, and emotions; as well as caregivers’ and educators’ beliefs about child development.

Research in the lab usually takes the form of research “games” designed for children between the ages of 2-10 years, and surveys or interviews designed for parents, caregivers, or other adults.

The Research Coordinator will provide hands‑on support to ongoing research projects and help develop new projects in the lab. Primary responsibilities will be recruiting families and schools to participate in research through email outreach, social media campaigns, phone calls, and in‑person recruitment; collecting data with children between the ages of ~2-10 years and their parents/caregivers in person at Seattle‑area preschools and children’s museums and online via Zoom or online survey platforms;

and helping to train and support research assistants who join the lab on a shorter‑term basis (to assist with data collection). Other research activities might include conducting literature reviews, designing studies, participating in qualitative analysis of videos of children and caregivers, and assisting with statistical analysis of quantitative data using R or other software. Depending on skills and interest, the Research Coordinator could also develop and deploy more advanced technical skills for quantitative analysis and computational research, but advanced technical skills are not required for this position.

Strong candidates for this position will demonstrate a genuine curiosity about children, a history of enjoying working directly with children and families, and an acute attention to detail in their work.

Primary responsibilities:

The Research Coordinator will work closely with researchers in the Conceptual Development Lab and with one or more of our Interest Area teams such as the Creativity, Design, and Play team, to support ongoing research projects and help develop new research projects. Specific responsibilities will vary based on the project, but may include:

• Participant recruitment and data collection
  • Recruiting families and schools to participate in research through email outreach, social media campaigns, phone calls, and in‑person recruitment
  • Coordinating with school administrators, teachers, museum liaisons, and parents/caregivers to gather consent and schedule data collection
  • Collecting data with children between the ages of ~2-10 years and their parents/caregivers, both in person (e.g. at Seattle‑area preschools and children’s museums) and online (e.g. via Zoom, via online survey platforms)
  • Providing training and support to Research Assistants who might join the lab on a shorter‑term basis
• Project management
  • Using project management software to track project‑related tasks and schedules
  • Participating in project team meetings
  • Writing IRB protocols
• Data management, preparation, and analysis
  • Entering data, cleaning data, de‑identifying data, and storing data while closely following both foundry
    10 and lab‑specific guidelines
  • Assisting with analysis, including qualitative analysis of videos of children and caregivers and statistical analysis of…