EDC is one of the world’s leading nonprofit research and development firms. EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Collaborating with both public and private partners, we strive for a world where all people are empowered to live healthy, productive lives.

EDC’s approach to equity, diversity, and inclusion is grounded in EDC’s commitment to respect the dignity of each individual. EDC has a commitment to promoting equity and access to high quality education and health services that contribute to thriving communities where people from diverse backgrounds learn, live, and work together. EDC expresses its commitment to increasing equity through its strategies, services and products, which contribute to building capacity and transforming lives.

EDC is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to enhancing the diversity of its workforce and ensuring an equitable and highly inclusive work environment. EDC is a smoke-free workplace, and offers a supportive work environment, competitive salary, and excellent benefits. Women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

The Research Assistant (II) must be based in the United States and available for occasional in-person meetings in Waltham, MA.

The Research Assistant will work primarily on two projects. The first is the Center for Strategic Prevention Support (CSPS), a technical assistance center funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that supports substance misuse prevention grantees working in over 150 cities and towns across Massachusetts. CSPS documents nonmedical use of prescription drugs in Massachusetts and supports the state in developing a strategic plan for addressing known risk factors for nonmedical prescription drug misuse.

The second project is the Behavioral Health Excellence-Technical Assistance Center (BHE-TAC) funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. This Center provides expert assistance to academic institutions and clinical centers that train future behavioral health professionals and paraprofessionals, with a focus on implementing evidence-based substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. EDC’s role centers on the use and evaluation of learning collaboratives to engage program faculty who are exploring and testing innovative training approaches.  

The role

The full-time research assistant will support CSPS efforts to assess the patterns of incidence, severity, risk factors, and burden of   nonmedical prescription drug use in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as work closely with our evaluation manager to track the nature, reach, quality, utility, and impact of technical services that the BHE-TAC provides.

You will:

• Assist in developing and implementing data transfer and analysis protocols
• Conduct interviews and focus groups to collect qualitative data
• Develop data dashboards for internal and external audiences
• Help identify and acquire administrative/archival data from multiple agencies/sources
• Assist in the production of data and other project reports, including epidemiological profiles
• Build and administer online questionnaires

• Bachelor’s Degree in social work, public health, psychology or related field with 2-3 years of post-degree experience in substance use, behavioral health, or other human service area preferred.
• Excellent organizational skills and capable of completing very detail-oriented tasks
• Experience in cleaning and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data
• Experience working independently on qualitative and quantitative data analysis and reporting
• Ability to conduct basic statistical analyses and willingness to learn more complex analytic techniques
• Experience working with statistical programs (e.g., STATA, SPSS, etc.) as well as qualitative data software (e.g., Dedoose, Atlas.ti)
• Familiar with the preparation of data presentations for different audiences including academic manuscripts, briefs, and legislative testimony

Benefits / What we offer

• This position is eligible for full-time telework for US-based candidates
• A mission-driven work environment
• Health, dental, and vision insurance and employee assistance program
• 12 paid holidays
• Generous vacation benefits
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Tuition and transportation reimbursement
• Retirement plan including robust employer contributions
• Paid sick time and up to 16 hours of personal time annually
• Parental leave

At EDC, we prioritize the health and wellbeing of our employees, families, and friends above all else. In response to the increased transmissibility with recent variants, all US-based EDC employees must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide proof thereof, as a condition of employment. Accommodations due to medical or religious exemptions will be considered.