Job opportunities: examples for QME graduates

Title: Assistant professor in educational research methodology of the department of educational policy, research, and administration

Criteria: Doctorate in research methods, psychometric methods, educational measurement, educational statistics, or a related field. Training and interests in other methodological and substantive areas of education such as the analysis of longitudinal data, growth modeling, policy studies, international education, and classroom assessment, would be relevant also. Demonstrated potential for scholarship, conducting and publishing research, and ability to teach at the graduate level at a university, are all important.

Title: Assistant Professor in Advanced Quantitative Methods

Criteria: Doctorate in engaging in methodological work that contributes to advances in and thoughtful application of Latent Variable Modeling / Structural Equation Modeling techniques. Methodological areas of interest or specialization might include longitudinal analysis, categorical data analysis, multilevel modeling, causal inference, experimental design, or missing data. Applicants should have a focus on applications of Latent Variable Modeling in education or closely related fields and areas such as policy studies of schooling; school-based interventions; program evaluation; applied educational measurement; psychological (cognitive, social, emotional) development; or psychological processes. It would also be desirable for candidates to have an interest in collaborating in studies addressing issues relevant to professional programs in the department, such as teacher education or educational leadership.

Title: Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry

Criteria: Candidates for this position will be persons trained as PhDs in a relevant discipline (psychology, clinical epidemiology, quantitative methods) with an interest in clinical research and measurement. Candidates must have sufficient quantitative skills to work with applications of modern psychometric methods (e.g., item response theory). Primary responsibilities will involve scientific writing and data analysis. For instance, to develop and calibrate item banks measuring patient-report outcomes (emotional distress, physical functioning, pain, fatigue, social role participation) relevant to all chronic diseases (physical and psychiatric). These item banks will be used to create a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) system suitable for clinical research.

Title: Quantitative researcher

Criteria: Graduate degree with a research focus in the social sciences or education. Ph.D. preferred. Experience conducting quantitative research, including proficiency n multivariate statistics and statistical modeling. Ability to work closely and effectively with a research team with varied research experience. Experience integrating quantitative and qualitative data. Strong writing skills, including the ability to synthesize and convey analysis of multiple types of data.

Title: Psychometrician in a testing company

Criteria: A Ph.D. in educational or psychological measurement and statistics, educational psychology or a closely related field is required. Must have experience in educational measurement, applied statistics, or teaching. Experience or education must include utilizing psychometric methods, statistical procedures, and their applications; application of classical test theory and item response theory; and use of SAS or SPSS statistical computer packages.

Title: Applied statistician

Criteria: Doctorate with a strong research focus in one or more of the following areas: education, psychology, sociology, health, economics and policy analysis. Candidates should have a keen interest in both developing new quantitative research methods as well as in the applied use of such methods in collaborative work with faculty and graduate students across the wide range of disciplines represented by the departments in the School.

Examples of jobs obtained by our doctoral graduates

• President, consulting firm, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Instructor, Chang Jung University, Taiwan
• Independent evaluator and Cconsultant, University of Minnesota
• Statistical consultant, University of Minnesota
• Evaluation consultant, University of Minnesota Medical School
• Psychometrician, American Guidance System, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Research associate, Center on Educational Outcomes, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Professor, University of Alabama
• Professor, West Virginia University
• Professor, University of Missouri
• Professor, University of Minnesota

March 2007