Hybrid Research Associate - Public Affairs & Media

Job Summary

NORC at the University of Chicago seeks a qualified Research Associate I to join its Public Affairs and Media Research Department in our Chicago Loop office. The department provides data-driven insights for media, policy making, and philanthropic organizations.

The Research Associate I is responsible for providing general support on research projects, including proposal support, background research, testing survey instruments, data cleaning, analysis, fact checking, and reporting activities.

This is a hybrid role based in our Chicago Loop office, with a minimum of six days per month in the office. Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. We regret that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

• Provide general research support on quantitative and qualitative projects on a wide range of topics.
• Prepare background research including literature reviews and environmental scans.
• Test data collection instruments and systems.
• Assist with data preparation, data cleaning, and coding.
• Conduct statistical analyses of survey data for research reports or ad-hoc as needed.
• Contribute to the preparation of reports, tables, and graphs based on survey findings.
• Conduct quality control tasks including fact checking.
• Assist with tasks related to business development such as providing proposal support.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in political science, psychology, communications, survey methodology, or other social science discipline required.
• Demonstrated attentiveness to detailed tasks, strong organizational skills, ability to meet requirements of multiple projects simultaneously, and ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
• Strong problem‑solving capabilities.
• Outstanding interpersonal, critical reasoning, analytic, and writing skills.
• Experience with conducting data analysis using standard statistical software packages (e.g., Stata, SAS, and/or R) is preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including MS Teams.
• Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. We regret that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

The pay for this position is $56,000.

• Generously subsidized health insurance, effective on the first day of employment.
• Dental and vision insurance.
• A defined contribution retirement program, along with a separate voluntary 403(b) retirement program.
• Group life insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance.
• Benefits that promote work/life balance, including generous paid time off, holidays; paid parental leave, bereavement leave, tuition assistance, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

NORC is an equal opportunity employer. NORC evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, sexual orientation, and other legally protected characteristics.