Junior Data Analyst

Overview:
**Term: 1 Year**

To assist in completing biostatistical analyses associated with COMPASS (Cannabis use, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking, Sedentary behaviour) study data and contribute to the writing of peer reviewed publications and research reports resulting from the data. The Junior Data Analyst is responsible for maintaining the various datasets (student-level, school-level, environmental) and supports data and cleaning operations for COMPASS. The Junior Data Analyst also provides data outputs for Knowledge Translation and Exchange activities and other reports associated with COMPASS.

**This position on contigent on funding.**

**Responsibilities**:
Data Analysis
- Conducts relevant analyses for internal/external collaborators and stakeholders involving sophisticated statistical methods (e.g., multi-level modeling, longitudinal analysis, analysis with multiple measures and clustered data) for COMPASS-related peer reviewed publications and reports
- Uses various statistical packages (e.g., SAS, STATA, SPSS) to meet the needs of the analysis and stakeholders
- Synthesizes quantitative data at the student-level, school-level and environmental-level to inform knowledge-based products for COMPASS
- Performs data-linkage activities to incorporate relevant external data from a variety of sources (e.g. Statistics Canada) to COMPASS data
- Implements new/complex methods for the analyses of COMPASS data (e.g., decision tree models, innovative methods for evaluating natural experiments, trajectory analyses, etc.)
- Reviews graduate student statistics code for research papers/reports

Development and Management of Datasets
- Ensures that student-level, school-level and environmental data are accurate, consistent, properly maintained and shared in compliance with relevant privacy protection, confidentiality and other ethical principles
- Identifies and addresses data integrity/reliability issues and uses data cleaning processes to achieve required data quality standards
- Works with large data sets to perform data mining and complete statistical analyses
- Works with the Program Manager to process data requests from investigators and other data users; maintain electronic records of data usage permissions
- Transforms, synthesizes, and cleanses data: identifies opportunities to reduce duplication and errors and to ensure consistency in data; identifies data integrity issues and proposes data cleansing processes to develop clear and consistent data quality standards

Survey Data Processing
- Implements quality control processes for datasets, via cleaning and processing data - e.g. validate data entry; check data against survey documentation; check for out-of-range and extreme data values; ensure that variable names are correct, create derived variables
- Implements standard operating procedures to create, organize, store, document, extract/export, convert, merge and manipulate large and small data files
- Creates and regularly updates school
- and environment-level datasets throughout the year as new data are available
- Cleans, reviews and identifies missing or incomplete school-level data in real time, and works with the recruitment coordinator to follow-up with contacts accordingly

Knowledge Translation and Communication
- Provides data outputs and creates reports for knowledge translation and exchange activities with external stakeholders, including schools, school boards, public health units and other research groups
- Assists in writing documentation reports to accompany the release of large data sets, including microdata user guides, public use micro-data files, data codebooks
- Contributes to the writing of peer-reviewed scientific publications and technical reports
- Prioritizes and responds to ad hoc and routine data inquiries
- Prepares reports for Investigators, staff, external data users and stakeholders, including funders
- Communicates clearly with external stakeholders

Task Organization and Prioritization
- Assists in the coordinated analyses of data from several large and small projects involving various combinations of investigators and staff using COMPASS data
- Demonstrates proficiency in managing competing priorities and time demands from multiple sources

Consultation, Leadership and Student Mentorship
- Advises investigators, staff and graduate students regarding data management and analysis
- Responds to questions of a statistical nature from internal and external stakeholders
- Consults with Program Manager and collaborators on data analysis plans and database management
- Communicates with students regularly throughout the data collection cycle to ensure proper collection methods are followed

Qualifications:

- Master’s degree in biostatistics or related discipline with significant biostatistics focus (e.g., Math)
- 1 - 2 years’ experience performing longitudinal and multi-level regression analyses
- Previous data management, manipulation, int