Research Associate- School Leadership Development Program - J-PAL South Asia

Start Date (earliest):        November 1^st 2024

Joining Location:                  Bangalore, Karnataka

Length of Commitment:       1 year (with possibility of extension)

Education:                             Bachelor’s/Master’s

Organization:                       J-PAL South Asia at IFMR

Language requirement:         Kannada required

Principal Investigators:         Todd Pugatch (University of Buffalo), Ketki Sheth (University of Tennessee), and Emmanuel Rukundo (RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research)

About the Organization

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research centre 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.

Project Specific Details: This project aims to study the effectiveness of the School Leadership Development Program in building leadership competencies amongst school leaders and improving student learning outcomes in primary and secondary schools. These schools are located in Bidar and Raichur districts of Karnataka. For this evaluation, the researchers will collaborate with Mantra4Change, who will implement the project in the field. The Principal Investigators on this project are Todd Pugatch (University of Buffalo), Ketki Sheth (University of Tennessee), and Emmanuel Rukundo (RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research).

Key Responsibilities

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-PAL’s 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
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Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor's/Master’s 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

Note on Work Authorization: Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.