Research Associate- School Leadership Development Program

About the Position

J-PAL South Asia at the Institute for Financial Management and Research

Project Specific Details:

Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and field staff to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

• Designing and developing survey questionnaires, running pilot exercises, refining study design and survey instruments
• Supporting and informing qualitative research
• Managing field teams across multiple districts: recruiting, training, and supervising both field-based and data operations teams consisting of project assistants, field managers, field-based surveyors, data entry operators, and other field and office staff
• Supervising data collection and data entry, and ensuring data quality and productivity
• Overseeing the entire data collection process, and ensuring compliance with J-PALs standards for data quality
• Writing high-quality documents, including training manuals, process reports and reports of results from different rounds of data collection
• Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and preparation of documents and presentations for dissemination
• Ensuring the project follows the agreed timeline and meets key milestones with the support of the Research Manager
• Assisting with applications to local and international institutional review boards with the support of the Research Manager
• Ensuring the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with the partner organization
• Maintaining relationships with partner organisation at both headquarters and field levels
• Reporting to the Research Manager and PIs on all of the activities mentioned above
• Maintaining compliance with all J-PAL protocols and policies
• Addressing any other task assigned by the Research Manager, AD Research or ED

Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor's/Masters degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, education or related fields
• Experience living and working in a developing country is a strong plus
• Fluency and excellent communication skills in English
• Fluency in Kannada is highly preferred
• Knowledge of Stata and SurveyCTO (strongly preferred) or other data analysis/collection software; strong quantitative skills
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials/clinical trials/quasi-experiments or primary data collection preferred
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, team player
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations
• Good team management skills
• Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments
• Ability to work independently