Helping Educators Use Research Evidence to Promote Student Wellbeing - Project Assistants and Quantitative Analysts
Valerie Shapiro, Professor
Social Welfare
Applications for Spring 2024 are closed for this project.
Behavioral health problems like depression, substance misuse, academic disengagement, and anxiety are common in young people, but many of these problems are preventable! Research has demonstrated how social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools can greatly improve the wellbeing and achievement of young people, but this research isn’t easily accessed and used by educators. Translating scientific advancements into the improved well-being of young people is a major challenge facing social scientists, educators, and ultimately, children, families, and communities. This project will enable you to learn about what the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center (https://ggie.berkeley.edu), the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare (https://extension.berkeley.edu/academic-areas/education/social-emotional-learning/) and partners in districts across the state of California, are doing to build, implement, and study research-supported social and emotional learning initiatives in K-12 schools.
This project will support California educators as they engage in professional development to enhance their capacity for delivering social and emotional learning to continuously improve their school climates for student and adult well-being.
Role: We are seeking an additional undergraduate student to serve as a project assistant and/or a quantitative data analyst.
Tasks may include:
-Help the team prepare for stakeholder meetings and trainings
-Prepare electronic surveys for distribution
-Prepare data sets for analysis
-Prepare reports from survey responses
-Thematically code documents, interviews, and open-ended survey responses.
NOTE: Tasks will be available in accordance to your individual talents and readiness for contribution.
Learning Outcomes may include:
-Learn about decision-making and transformation in the K-12 education sector
-Learn about Social and Emotional Learning initiatives
-Gain experience with survey building, circulation, cleaning, analysis, and reporting
-Practice using research tools (e.g., Qualtrics, Dedoose)
-Practice qualitative coding
-Gain insight into the methods of applied, community-engaged research
Advanced students will participate in the writing of research briefs.
*Intermediate/advanced quantitative data analysts can focus on data wrangling, cleaning, and visualizations!
NOTE: Student apprentices starting in the Fall will be given the opportunity to become a YEDI scholar. YEDI is the Youth Equity Discovery Initiative, a year-long initiative for a cohort of undergraduates interested in contributing to research addressing issues of youth equity and wellbeing. Scholars benefit from (and enjoy!) the cohort-building, extra research training and support, as well as the professional development opportunities (including faculty guest speakers and graduate student and practitioner panels). YEDI Scholars will enroll in PH198 (1 unit), which will meet on Tuesdays from 4:30pm-6:00pm beginning September 13th (attendance required to participate in YEDI). This is in addition to the units you receive for your URAP research project. For any questions about YEDI, please contact Marieka Schotland at mschotland@berkeley.edu or see https://i4y.berkeley.edu/initiatives-projects-partnerships/student-training. If you are interested in participating in the YEDI program, please indicate this in your application.
NOTE: This project participates in the LAEP program that enables underrepresented undergraduate students who have filed for financial aid to earn money in research-related positions in order to help reduce their educational costs. You may simultaneously earn academic credit for successful completion of this apprenticeship. If you are interested in participating in the LAEP program, please *affirm your eligibility* in your application. Eligibility criteria are: a) California resident, b) Enrolled in 6 or more units / good academic standing, c) Filed a FAFSA or CADAA and have work-study eligibility, d) Eligible to work in the U.S., including current DACA holders.
We value equity and inclusion; Students from different backgrounds, with diverse identities and experiences, are all encouraged to apply.
Qualifications: (1) Academic, research, or work experience in education, psychology, public health, social welfare, or a related field, (2) Interest in the professional development of educators and system change in K-12 education, (3) Comfort with electronic communications (email) and associated technology, (4) Capacity to participate in video conferencing with reliable connection, mic, and video, (5) Experience being relied on as detail-oriented and organized, (6) Experience with project management or coordination, (7) Capacity to contribute 8-10 hours a week during the academic term, with some hours occurring during weekday business hours, (8) Seeking multiple semesters of involvement, (9) Experience with Qualtrics or other electronic survey tool (preferred), (10) Experience with Dedoose or other qualitative analysis tool (preferred), (11) Experience manipulating Google Sheets (preferred), (12) Completed CITI training to learn about research ethics: https://www.citiprogram.org/?pageID=668 (preferred), (13) Willingness to share with supervisor when you’re unsure or have a question.
Students will be required to complete asynchronous, online training about research ethics and the basics of social and emotional learning. Students will need to have the capacity for 8-10 hours of contribution to the project during each week of instruction, adjusted for university holidays. Our ideal student will have interest in a multi-year commitment to a research team with escalating roles and responsibilities, with a possibility of summer extensions.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Dr. Ashley Metzger or Dr. Kamryn Morris, Post-Doc
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: All work can be conducted virtually (in US Pacific time zone). Workstation can be made available in Haviland Hall. YEDI participation will require in-person meetings on campus.
Related website: https://www.calhopesel.org/
Related website: https://www.calhopesel.org/