Research Methodologist

Organization Overview

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research in the areas of U.S. politics and policy views; news and information; internet and technology; science and society; religion and public life; global attitudes; race and ethnicity; and U.S. social and demographic trends. Pew Research does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew Research Center’s work is carried out by a staff of 180.

Position Summary

The Center’s U.S. survey methods team manages our American Trends Panel (ATP), a multi-mode, probability-based survey panel that is its primary source of survey data for U.S. public opinion research, as well as provide guidance for all of the Center’s domestic public opinion research. The Research Methodologist reports to the Associate Director for U.S. Survey Methods and works closely with the Principal Methodologist on sampling, weighting and other programming-intensive duties.

The Research Methodologist performs a range of duties to support the evolving needs of the Center’s survey methods team. These duties include, but are not limited to, data management, data wrangling, sampling, weighting, quality checking, data and questionnaire archiving, and supporting the ATP Panel Manager as needed during survey preparation and fielding. Furthermore, the Research Methodologist may support research and experimentation in the field of survey methodology, such as survey nonresponse, question wording effects, and nonprobability surveys.

Primary Responsibilities

• Draw and check complex survey samples,
• Create and check survey weights in R
• Analysis of weighted survey data in R
• Managing survey data in R (especially cleaning, merging and recoding variables)
• Assist with the operation of the American Trends Panel including sampling, weighting, quality checking online survey programming, and production support
• Conduct ad hoc analyses for research and methods teams with oversight from the Principal Methodologist or Associate Director.
• Write methodology sections for reports and maintain methodology-related materials on the website
• Maintain survey question archive
• Maintain familiarity with the latest developments in survey methodology

Education/Training/Experience

• Strong proficiency programming in the R statistical programming language is required. (Beginner level R users would not be a fit for this role). Some familiarity with SPSS is also a plus.
• 3-5 years research experience, including 2-3 years of professional experience with the execution of probability-based complex survey designs (e.g., drawing stratified samples, constructing weights) and incorporation of complex sample designs in analysis (e.g., using weighted data)
• 1-3 years experience with survey logistics (e.g., testing web survey instruments)
• B.A. degree in survey methodology, statistics or quantitative social science field is required, advanced degree strongly preferred

Knowledge & Skills Requirements

• Ability to work well in a team setting
• Interest in public opinion and polling required
• Strong familiarity with more advanced operations in R, such as wrangling data with the tidyverse or equivalent frameworks, writing custom functions, and writing reproducible code, is preferred.
• Familiarity with accessing and working with national public datasets and statistical databases preferred
• A “numbers person” with strong quantitative and survey statistical skills
• Detail oriented with exacting standards to maintain accuracy and impartiality in all work products
• Problem solving skills, such as being able to properly diagnose and debug unexpected results or errors, preferred.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills
• Interest in expanding skills to cover new analytical tools and methods
• Ability to balance numerous tasks simultaneously and meet tight deadlines

FLSA Status: Exempt

Compensation : The typical starting salary for this position is $110,000 annually.

Hybrid Work Schedule: Pew Research Center staff are required to be present in the Center’s Washington, D.C., office three core days weekly (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).  Staff may work virtually from remote locations on other days in a typical work week.    

Application Procedure: Click on the Apply button, and complete required fields. Both cover letter and resume are required. 

When requested, please upload a copy of your resume/cv, as well as a copy of your cover letter in the section labeled Resume/Cover Letter. If the documents have successfully uploaded, you should see 2 attached files beneath the “Drop files here” box. Please make sure you have uploaded a resume AND a cover letter before moving on to the next page.