Entry-Level Field Research Assistant

University of Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 30,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Chicago seeks a Research Project Assistant in the Economics department to support field experiments and provide broad administrative help for ongoing research projects. You’ll translate study designs into field operations, monitor milestones, track budgets, and coordinate with faculty, staff, and external partners to keep projects on schedule.

As an entry-level role, you will gain hands-on project management experience while ensuring compliance with IRB and university

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Business Analytics, or a related field.
• Experience supporting research projects, field experiments, studies, or data collection.
• Experience working with human participants and data collection tools.

Responsibilities

• Support the implementation of field experiments, including planning, scheduling, and monitoring study activities across research sites. Travel to field sites as needed.
• Collaborate with the Research Project Coordinator on field site visits and surveys.
• Support communication between the research team and external partners, vendors, and study sites to ensure protocols are executed accurately and on time.
• Provide technical and administrative support for research projects, including maintaining study supplies and tracking inventory.
• Assist with site visits and interact with human participants.
• Ensure experiments comply with university and IRB policies and procedures.
• Prepare reports and presentations for research team meetings.
• Assist with the preparation and submission of research compliance materials, including IRB protocols and related documentation.
• Provide assistance with correspondence, purchasing, and expense reconciliation.
• Provide day‑to‑day support for student RAs with project and research tasks.
• Identify operational issues as they arise and resolve routine ones using established procedures, escalating others to senior staff.
• Track project milestones, budgets, and deliverables.
• Assist finance partners with preparing budgets and expense reports.
• Support data collection efforts, including preparing materials and helping maintain data quality and integrity.
• May assist recruiting and scheduling research subjects; assisting with developing or amending study protocols; assisting with developing data collection tools; assisting with building databases; and providing general administrative support.

Skills

Project management

Data management

Communication

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Business Analytics, or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Google Workspace

SAP/Concur

GEMS

Job description

The University of Chicago seeks a Research Project Assistant in the Economics department to support field experiments and provide broad administrative help for ongoing research projects. You’ll translate study designs into field operations, monitor milestones, track budgets, and coordinate with faculty, staff, and external partners to keep projects on schedule.

As an entry-level role, you will gain hands-on project management experience while ensuring compliance with IRB and university