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Research Director - Wechsler/Intelligence
Pearson
San Antonio, TX, United States
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Description
At Pearson, we’re committed to a world that’s always learning and to our talented team who makes it all possible. From bringing lectures vividly to life to turning textbooks into laptop lessons, we are always re-examining the way people learn best, whether it’s one child in our own backyard or an education community across the globe. We are bold thinkers and standout innovators who motivate each other to explore new frontiers in an environment that supports and inspires us to always be better. By pushing the boundaries of technology — and each other to surpass these boundaries — we create seeds of learning that become the catalyst for the world’s innovations, personal and global, large and small.
Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is currently seeking a Research Director to support our Clinical Assessment division. We are particularly noted for our gold-standard assessment contributions in cognitive/ability, memory, neuropsychology, behavior, personality/psychopathology, achievement and speech/language. Noted brands include the Wechsler and Kaufman families of products, MMPI, BASC, OLSAT, CELF, and PLS. We're also revolutionizing clinical assessment through our innovative digital assessment platform, Q-interactive.
Candidate Description
You are a doctoral-level psychologist or psychology postdoctoral resident in clinical practice with at least 3 years of hands-on clinical experience, and you enjoy assessment. You are extremely familiar with many different standardized psychological tests for children and adults. You love clinical work, but are looking for a new challenge and would like to impact lives in a different way (i.e., other than direct service delivery) and on a larger scale. You attended a graduate program that placed a strong emphasis on clinical and research excellence, you enjoyed research and statistics coursework in graduate school, and think you would enjoy pursuing research on a daily basis. You are excited by the thought of developing new or revised standardized psychological tests or intervention solutions in both the paper and digital medium.
Responsibilities
The Wechsler Team Research Director is responsible for working with a team of professionals—the Wechsler team, the Cognitive Product Managers, and the Vice President of the Cognitive and Neuropsychology line of business—to assist in determining when and how to develop new products and/or revise current products.
As a Research Director, you will become one of several content experts in the field of cognitive testing, gain a strong understanding of best practices in cognitive assessment, relevant legislation and policies, challenges impacting the field of cognitive assessment nationally, and know how cognitive tests are best used in practice.
The test development process is a lengthy one, and you will be responsible for participating in all phases (Initiation, Pilot, Tryout, Standardization, and Final). You will work with a cross-functional team that typically consists of a Project Manager, a Product Manager (mentioned previously), a Clinical Assessment Developer (i.e., research assistant), an Editor, a Psychometrician and/or Statistician, and Software Designers and Engineers, among others. You may also work with test author(s) to develop test content and format.
Some of the tasks you will be involved with during the initial test development phases include reviewing literature to inform product plans, working with a Senior Research Director and Psychometrician to develop a research plan and data analysis plan; creating new items, working with the project team to develop visual stimuli (art) for items as appropriate, and determining scoring rules. You will work with Software Designers and Engineers to help prototype and build digital solutions for items and subtests. As the research continues, you will describe the population needed to participate in the research, review all data analyses conducted by the psychometrics team, and review the final data to be included in the test manual. In the final test development phases, you will develop the outline for the Administration and Scoring Manual and Technical and Interpretive Manual following our standard templates and you will write manual chapters. You will also edit chapters written by the author and/or external consultants. You will work with the project team to ensure that all materials are prepared in a timely manner to meet the publication schedule. You will review and approve the work of the Clinical Assessment Developer and be responsible for the quality of that work. You will report to a Senior Research Director who will mentor, guide, and review your work until you are able to function independently.
Qualifications
Education
PhD in Clinical Psychology, School Psychology, or Counseling Psychology
Experience
• Must have demonstrable knowledge of/expertise/training in psychological assessment.
• Must be familiar with the Wechsler line of assessments and have used them with clinical and other special populations.
• Must have graduate level skills in research methods and statistics and a minimum of 3 years’ experience in clinical or educational settings that includes the administration, interpretation, and/or development of psychological tests for populations requiring cognitive assessment.
Skills required
• Must have strong oral and written communication skills, good planning and organizational skills, ability to work as a team, flexibility, and desire to learn the test development and publishing process.
• Must have a strong interest in conducting research on a daily basis.
• Must have strong skills in the area of research and statistics.
• Must have a strong understanding of formal cognitive assessment or have the ability to quickly acquire that expertise, including command of clinical research in that area and experience in assessment.
• Must be eager to embrace technology in business, with demonstrated ability to utilize and/or teach others to utilize technology in everyday life and in business.
• Must have the ability to work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary project team including designers, user experience experts, editors, marketing and sales professionals, and others.
The core competencies desired of all candidates include:
• Flexibility – the ability to adapt to a changing environment
• Curiosity – the desire to explore and learn new ways to do business
• Optimism – the courage to pioneer new ideas with confidence and resilience
• Critical Thinking – the ability to recognize assumptions, evaluate arguments, and draw conclusions that are clear, consistent, sound, and fair and result in positive outcomes for the business.
Preferred Additional Skills
• Experience and/or skills in one or more of these research, business, software, web technology, or related areas is desired but not required.
• History of scholarly research publications or research presentations at national or regional conferences
• Use of mobile and web applications in professional and/or daily life, such as setting up and running a Webex; creating a website or an advanced Facebook site; use of various on-line teaching or learning tools; use of on-line team collaboration tools; use of DropBox or similar tool
• Familiarity with using software/content as a service (e.g., web-based software such as Pearson’s Q-interactive)
• Knowledge of basic digital prototyping tools (e.g., AppCooker)
• Basic knowledge of XML or HTML
• Knowledge of multicultural issues related to language assessment and intervention.