Date:	July, 2014
Reports to (Job Title):	ITC Knowledge and Translation Manager
Jobs Reporting (Job Titles):	None
Location:	Techtown - Waterloo North Campus
Grade:	USG 8 35 hr/wk

Primary Purpose

ITC Project Organization:

The ITC Project is an international collaboration of over 100 tobacco control researchers across 22 countries whose mission is to evaluate the behavioural and psychological impact of national-level tobacco control policies of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first-ever international treaty on health. The ITC Project consists of a set of parallel annual cohort surveys of large, probability samples of tobacco users and non-users of tobacco in those 22 countries: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, China, Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kenya, and Zambia.

Our funding sources include the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the US National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, as well as other governmental and foundation sources throughout the ITC countries.

The ITC Project at UW is directed by Dr. Geoffrey T. Fong (Department of Psychology), who is also the Chief Principal Investigator of the overall ITC Project. The Data Management Centre is directed by Dr. Mary E. Thompson (Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science). Additional leadership and support is provided by other faculty members and staff, including the ITC Administrative Manager, Country Project Management Group (ITC Research Scientist and Research Associates), Data Management Centre (DMC; Data Analysts, Statisticians, Survey Management Group), Administrative Assistant, and graduate and undergraduate student Research Assistants.

The ITC Project is in the midst of significant growth. Funding for the entire ITC Project is anticipated to continue to increase significantly, with a concomitant increase in personnel. Equally important is that the international profile of our work has been increasing and will continue to increase.

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

The Data Analyst/Data Visualization Developer is responsible for the cleaning, processing and management of the various ITC datasets, as well as for computing descriptive statistics, carrying out basic statistical analyses and creating analytic datasets including derived variables. The position also includes internal and external dissemination tasks including the creation of data visualizations to support our ITC Survey dissemination efforts. He/she is accountable to the faculty investigators who work with the ITC Project; in particular to the Director and Associate Director of the Data Management Core (DMC) of the ITC Project, and for administrative purposes to the ITC Administrative Manager and ITC Knowledge and Translation Manager. The incumbent takes direction, on a day-to-day basis, from the DMC Director and Associate Director regarding the management and processing of datasets, and from the ITC Knowledge and Translation Manager regarding work on dissemination projects.

Key Accountabilities:

1.Specific Tasks

Cleaning, checking and processing of interview data, after they have been entered in an electronic database by the survey or data entry firm
Developing R or SAS code to automate data cleaning, data processing, and basic graphs
Construction and maintenance of analytic and public use data sets
Computing various derived variables from the above data
Creating or updating the appropriate ITC datasets with the above data, and making them available under SAS, SPSS and Stata formats
Managing and facilitating access to the various ITC datasets by investigators
Generating summary tables and descriptive statistics

Independently developing and performing basic analyses of data that tell a story about the data

Communicating analyses to a writer using non-technical language and supplying the writer with creative graphs and tables to support the analyses
Assisting in more complex analyses
On occasion, preparing a tailored dataset as required by an investigator

Providing consultation and training materials (manuals and tutorials) regarding data base design and use, multi-country data analyses, and protocols for sampling design
Updating of internal and external ITC website

2.Position Challenges

The position requires the ability to manage large complex longitudinal datasets. Experience with SAS and with one or more programming languages is essential as is familiarity with structured-query language (SQL) and Microsoft Access. Experience with SPSS is an asset, but not essential. Experience with tools for data graphing and data visualization is highly desired.
The position also requires being meticulous and detail oriented, as well as having good oral and written communication skills and a strong ability to work as part of a team.
The main responsibility of this position involves the construction and maintenance of analytic and public use data sets as well as managing and facilitating access to various ITC datasets. The incumbent will also participate in the dissemination of the group’s research and findings by producing graphs and visual summaries to facilitate the understanding of complex and large datasets, of the relationships between variables, and in the interpretation of results based on both descriptive and model based estimation. The Data Analyst/Data Visualization Developer will also contribute to the written interpretation of findings, as well as perform basic statistical analyses.

The Data Analyst/Data Visualization Developer will also contribute to the overall planning and coordination of the ITC Project, functioning as an integral part of the ITC Waterloo team. Duties include creating and communicating sampling protocol components of survey fieldwork training manuals; creating data primers and contributing to the development of data analysis guidelines and tutorials as required; and updating the ITC internal and external websites.
Cleaning, checking and processing of interview data (after they have been entered in an electronic database by the survey or data entry firm) will also constitute a significant part of the assignment.

Position Requirements

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science or a math-related discipline; or equivalent education plus experience is required. A Master’s degree is preferred.

Experience:

Experience with SAS and R are essential
Knowledge of statistical methods for survey data is an asset
Familiarity with Visual Basic for applications and structured-query language (SQL) are assets
Experience with basic statistical data visualization is highly desired
Experience with HTML language would also be an asset
Good oral and written communication skills and a strong ability to work as part of a team
Ability to respond to time–sensitive data and analysis requests

Other requirements:

Meticulous, detail oriented and possessing excellent problem-solving skills

Ability to respond to time-sensitive data and analysis requests

Ability to effectively plan, prioritize and manage multiple tasks

Technical:

MS Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Other

Advanced

Intermediate

SAS

SPSS

Stata

Nature and Scope

Interpersonal Skills:

Reports to the ITC Knowledge Translation Manager. Internally, communicates and collaborates with Research Associates, Research Assistants, Dr. Fong, DMC personnel (Data Analysts, Statisticians, and Survey Management Group).

Level of Responsibility:

Sole responsibility and accountability for creating accurate and engaging data visualizations to support dissemination of ITC Project findings in ITC National Reports and policy reports. Responsible and accountable for computing descriptive statistics and basic statistical analyses for reports and academic papers. Sole responsibility for managing and facilitating access to various ITC datasets by investigators.

Decision-Making Authority:

Responsible and accountable for conducting data analyses in consultation with Senior Data Analyst and creating supporting data visualizations in consultation with the ITC Knowledge Translation Manager.

Physical and Sensory Demands:

Position requires strong attention to detail and ability to quickly and accurately response to multiple time-sensitive data analysis and visualization requests.

Working Environment:

Fast-paced office environment supporting data for several countries under tight timelines.

ITC Data Visualization Developer