What are the responsibilities and job description for the Summer Research Intern position at American Osteopathic Association?
JOB SUMMARY
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) has two 100% remote 10-week summer research internship positions opening up. The internships are an opportunity to gain hands-on experience by assisting in research projects, engaging in literature reviews, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and potentially contributing to conference presentations and/or publications.
The Intern Research Associate program at the AOA is for those currently enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program in fields such as psychometrics, measurement, statistics, l/O psychology, or data science. This fully remote 10-week internship beginning June 2026 involves working closely with experienced psychometricians and assessment experts. Interns will gain hands-on experience with AOA data and research projects that support the organization's mission of advancing the distinctive philosophy and practice of osteopathic medicine. The Certifying Board Services (CBS) department serves 73 certification and certificate programs across 15 specialty certifying boards.
Interns will work and collaborate with the psychometric and assessment teams of the CBS department to support the AOA’s research agenda. The role provides an opportunity to support operational and research initiatives and offers practical experience in certification testing. Research topics may include exam design and development, administration and supportive validity studies for our certification and osteopathic continuing certification exams.
Responsibilities
Interns will work closely with the psychometric and assessment teams to develop a research plan for the internship.
Over the 10 weeks, interns will attend weekly meetings with their supervisor to discuss progress and address questions, and with one or more research project teams to discuss ongoing work.
Activities may include conducting and writing literature reviews, data gathering/cleaning, programming in R or Python, item and exam analyses with CTT and IRT, performing statistical analyses such as DIF or regression analysis, writing reports, and delivering presentations.
At the conclusion of the internship, all files and equipment will be returned to the AOA.
Current topics of interest to the AOA’s Certifying Board Services:
- Application of AI in test assembly, content development, measurement and assessment fields
- Detecting compromised exam content
- Longitudinal assessment
- Detecting bias in exam content
Qualifications
- Candidates must be actively pursuing a Master’s or PhD degree in Educational Measurement, Statistics, I/O Psychology, or a related field and have completed a minimum of 75% of required coursework towards their Master’s or 50% of required coursework towards their Ph.D.
- Recommendation of advisor, department chair, or other academic recommendation from current program of study
- Familiarity with Item Response Theory (IRT), Rasch modeling, Classical Test Theory, DIF analysis, and psychometric principles
- Intermediate programming skills in R and/or Python
- Strong research and analytical skills with attention to detail
- Interest in educational measurement, certification testing, LLMs, or data forensics
- Collaborative team player
We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
American Osteopathic Association is unable to sponsor work visas at this time.