Research Social Scientist

Duties

• Help Formulates research plans, develops methodology, determines data needs, and defines resources needed to carry out complex social science research and analysis programs of great significance and difficulty.
• Conduct analysis of demographic phenomena that have economic and social consequences on various areas within rural America.
• Serve as an expert on rural data sources and on definitions of rural necessary for both Federal research and policy applications.
• Produce authoritative technical advice and guidance on Departmental actions and policy decisions related to demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic analyses of rural America.
• Conduct analysis of population and migration change at both the overall rural level and in individual counties and regions.
• Conduct spatial analyses of various indicators of rural resident and community well-being.
• Report findings from analyses of complex and difficult demographic and economic research problems.
• Lead the development and reporting of analyses of population trends and migration patterns for rural US households.

Qualifications

• Full 4-year degree of study in behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
• One year of specialized experience comparable to GS-13 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience conducting demographic research relevant to the role of rural or urban population change as it relates to the economic or social well-being of people or places; proposing research approaches and methods for testing hypotheses to include use of scientifically appropriate demographic or social theory, relevant data, and appropriate empirical methods; using statistical models in applied work; and developing and providing input and direction for regional or national rural and population research programs.
• One year of specialized experience comparable to GS-14 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience in primary authorship of a number of important papers, models, theories, and/or techniques that impact the advancement of or are accepted as authoritative in the field of demography or rural population; conducting policy-related research on the drivers of economic and population growth and decline in rural areas; and participating in symposia that define the state of the discipline or introduce new areas in the field of rural economics.