LDI Replication project hiring Undergraduate Researchers for Spring and Summer

Please see the job posting here.

We are looking for up to 10 students to work on the LDI-based AEA Data Editor team as undergraduate research interns.

• Contact: Send your CV to ldi@cornell.edu, mentioning "LDI Replication Lab".
• Remuneration: An hourly rate commensurate with experience will be offered. $12.50 per hour, up to 10 hours per week; up to 20 hours per week during the summer.
• Goal: Ensure that supplementary materials for articles in a journal with a replication policy are (a) accessible (b) reproduce the intended results, (c) document results and findings.

Work description

The American Economic Association (AEA) monitors compliance with its Data and Code Availability Policy, under the leadership of the AEA Data Editor. Team members will access pre-publication materials provided by authors, and assess how well these materials reproduce the results published in the manuscript or article. The provided materials and instructions will be assessed using a checklist. Authors’ instructions will be followed (if possible), and success or failure to (i) perform the analysis (ii) replicate the authors' results will be documented. Other related activities, such as literature search or tabulation of results, may also be assigned. Team work is encouraged, and activity will be supervised by graduate student or faculty member. Team members must be at ease working in various computer environments (Windows Remote Desktop, local laptops) and software tools (statistical software, Git).

Duration

This is ongoing work, and conditional on satisfactory work, continued employment (until graduation) is possible and desirable. Student status with Cornell is required. 

Training will take place in January, but it is possible to postpone beginning work until May. 

Necessary qualifications

Some experience with empirical social science data analysis using statistical software is required. Knowledge of at least one of Stata, Matlab, R or SAS is required, as is familiarity with the Windows Desktop environment. Experience with Git and the command line (Linux, Mac, or Powershell) are assets. Applicants must be current Cornell students, residing in the United States.

Requirement

Training (via Zoom) is required for final hiring.  Attendance (via Zoom) at two weekly meetings is required. 

Training will take place from Wed Jan 27 through Wed Feb 3, 2021. Live (remote) attendance should be expected every afternoon during that time, plus some significant self-paced work. Low intensity on-the-job training (about 2-5 hours a week, on real examples) will take up to another 2 weeks, depending on skill, and is conducted at your own pace, with weekly deliverables. Successful trainees will transition to the actual "replicator" activity as soon as adequate skills are demonstrated. Our training success and post-training retention rate is above 90%. Once trained, you will be able to work flexibly, taking into account exams and other study constraints. 

Students are not paid during training. Training is free, but participation is limited to job candidates.

Location

Day-to-day presence on campus is not required for the actual work (all computer work will be performed on remotely accessible servers), but student workers must be located in the United States as per Cornell policy. Videoconference presence for two weekly meetings is required. Occasional absences are acceptable, but should be an exception.