Paid Undergraduate/Graduate Research Assistantships in Food Economics and Consumer Behavior

Agriculture, Food, and Environment Program
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Tufts University

Project Summary: Researchers at Tufts University are exploring the connection between climate change, food quality, and consumer behavior. This project will specifically explore consumer reactions to climate-induced quality variation in brewed hot tea sourced from Yunnan Province, China. Consumer valuation of climate change related product attributes will also be investigated in this study. More details on this project and its parent project can be found on the project website: www.teaclimate.org.

Job Description
Two research assistants will work with a team based in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy to collect primary data from customers at grocery stores, health food stores/specialty stores, cafes, and tea stores in the Boston metropolitan region. Each Research

Assistant will:
• Travel to retail stores/cafes in the Boston metropolitan area
• Recruit customers to participate in the research study
• Prepare and brew hot tea samples for study participants to taste and rate
• Instruct participants to complete a survey administered through iPads
• Organize and maintain study supplies and materials
• Manage logistics at study sites and communicate with store owners/staff
• Process and clean data collected from the study
Qualifications
• Organized
• Experience with planning events and logistical details
• Punctual
• Excellent writing skills
• Fast, reliable, and fluid electronic communication skills (email, phone, text messaging)
• Enjoys and is capable of talking to strangers in retail setting with a friendly and outgoing attitude
• Flexible schedule; can work shifts of 4-6 hours each during the morning, afternoons, or evenings, and
on weekdays and weekends.
• Interested in sustainable agriculture, climate change, environmental issues, tea, food marketing, food
economics, and/or food policy
Skills (preferred but not required)
• Experience with Qualtrics or other online survey administration tool
• Skills in Excel or other spreadsheet/database software
• Experience with Stata or other statistical software programs

Duration:
Part-time (time commitment varies week to week, but no more than 12 hours/week in any one week), Fall 2014
to Fall 2015.

Compensation:
$15/hour (graduate students); $12/hour (undergraduate students). Work-study preferred but not required.
To Apply:
Please send a 1-page resume and 1-page cover letter to Rebecca Boehm, Project Coordinator, at Rebecca.nemec@tufts.edu. Questions may be addressed to Ms. Boehm as well. You can read more about our research at www.teaclimate.org

Research funded by the National Science Foundation. Award # 1313775