Research Associate - Ganitha-Ganaka - J-PAL South Asia

Start Date (Earliest): ASAP

Language Requirement: conversational Kannada preferred

Length of Commitment: 10 months

Joining Location: Bengaluru

Name of the Project: Ganitha-Ganaka

Sector- Education

About the Organization

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of 194 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. J-PAL South Asia, based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research in India, leads J-PAL’s work in the South Asia region. J-PAL South Asia conducts randomized evaluations, builds partnerships for evidence-informed policymaking, and helps partners scale up effective programs. Over more than ten years of existence, J-PAL South Asia has conducted 193 ongoing and completed randomized evaluations.

About the position

J-PAL South Asia at the Institute for Financial Management and Research seeks qualified applicants for the position of Research Associate to lead impact evaluations in India. The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. The Research Associate will join a team of world-class researchers from leading universities in the world and will gain first-hand experience implementing randomized control trials in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research Read more about our work and projects here.

J-PAL South Asia is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and other attributes protected by law. We strongly encourage people from marginalized communities to apply for this role.

Project Specific Details-

J-PAL is working with the Government of Karnataka on the Ganitha-Ganaka programme to improve foundational math outcomes for grades 3-5. This programme was launched based on the evidence supporting the “ConnectEd” programme, a tailored instruction approach that uses

phones to connect high-quality instruction with students and parents. Within this year, the government aims to reach approximately 630,000 students across 93 low-performing administrative blocks. Through our combined efforts on policy, embedded research and implementation at-scale, we seek to contribute to open questions around implementing a technology-enabled model of tailored instruction at-scale in resource-constrained systems, whilst understanding the attitudes, beliefs and key challenges of change agents across multiple levels of government as an evidence-based intervention is embedded in the government system.

We are looking for a Research Associate to support embedded research activities within this scale-up.

Key Responsibilities

The Research Associate would work closely with academic researchers, implementing partners and field staff to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

Programme monitoring activities: Designing survey questionnaires, running pilot exercises, refining study design and survey instruments

Managing field teams: Train and supervise phone survey teams for programme monitoring consisting of project assistants, field managers and surveyors

Supervising data collection to ensure good data quality

Ensuring that the project complies with IRB and JPAL data collection and security protocols with the help of the Research Manager

Maintaining relationship with partner organizations at both headquarters and field levels

Working with the J-PAL Policy Team closely on synergizing study efforts and outputs

Assisting with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis

Assisting in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities

Any other task as assigned by the Research Manager, AD Research or ED

Desired Qualifications

A Bachelor's/Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, education or related fields

Previous research/ field experience in education sector preferred

Proven management skills

Excellent communication skills in English

Some conversational-level skill in Kannada is preferable

Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player

Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations

Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred) or other data analysis software is preferred

Familiarity with randomized controlled trials/clinical trials/quasi-experiments preferred

Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments

Note on Work Authorizations:

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.