Research Associate - Testing Techniques for Achieving Statewide Progress on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Goals in Uttar Pradesh - J-PAL South Asia

Organization: J-PAL South Asia

Location: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Start Date (Earliest): September 2024

Country: India

Project: Testing Techniques for Achieving Statewide Progress on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Goals in Uttar Pradesh

Length of Commitment: 1 year

Education: Bachelor’s/Master’s

Language requirement: Hindi & English required

Principal Investigators: Jeffrey Liebman, Madhavi Jha, Nikhil Kumar, Kartik Srivastava

 About the organization:

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) J-PAL was established in 2003 as a research center at the Economics Department at MIT. Since then, it has grown into a global network of researchers who use randomized evaluations to answer critical policy questions in the fight against poverty. J-PAL is propelled by a team dedicated to research, policy, training, and other vital work, supporting J-PAL's mission to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.

J-PAL South Asia, the regional office which is based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in India, analyses and disseminates research results and builds partnerships with policymakers to ensure that policy is driven by evidence, and that programs proven effective are scaled up. For more information on J-PAL SA, please see http://www.povertyactionlab.org/south-asia.

Project Description:

The Government of India has launched the NIPUN Bharat initiative with the aim of achieving universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary schools. Uttar Pradesh is aggressively implementing NIPUN Bharat in its 110,000 government primary schools which teach 6 million students in the target grades (1 to 3). A fundamental challenge in implementing a large public sector service delivery improvement initiative like this one is how to maintain focus and momentum among the 400,000 teachers who are the key to the initiative’s success. Toward this end, UP is testing a measurement plus gamification strategy -- using a smartphone app which allows teachers to assess individual students’ status relative to the literacy and numeracy goals at any time. Using school-level randomization with 2400 schools spread across three experimental arms, the evaluation will assess the impact of the app-based measurement and gamification strategy on teaching practices and student achievement.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• The project team is looking for a smart and driven Research Associate to lead the project on ground. The Research Associate will work closely with Principal Investigators, Research Manager and the field team to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:
• Supporting design of survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercises, and refining study design and survey instruments
• Coding error-free and rigorously tested digital versions of survey instruments and setting up data workflows for the same
• 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
• Designing data collection plans based on project timelines and logistics
• Collaborating with the partner organization and the government to pilot, design, and implement the intervention in accordance with the research design
• Monitoring data collection and entry to ensure highest data quality across different phases of the project by devising effective and efficient quality monitoring systems
• Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and maintaining extensive and efficient data documentation
• Coordinating with the Administrative and Finance team on a variety of tasks related to field staff and vendor contracting and payments
• Ensuring that the project complies with IRB and JPAL data collection and security protocols with the help of the Research Manager
• Supporting Literature Reviews and Document Preparation: Conducting literature reviews and writing reports and manuscripts
• Assisting in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities
• Maintaining relationships with various government and partner organization stakeholders at state, district, block, and school levels
• Working closely with J-PAL’s Policy team to develop memos, presentations, and other knowledge products and communication materials for use in advocacy and capacity building with government partners
• Maintain comprehensive project documentation, such as manuals, logs, codebooks, and readme files including any issues and key decisions taken for improvements
• Reporting to PIs on all of the above mentioned activities
• Any other task as assigned by the Research Manager, and/or by the Principal Investigators.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor's/Master's degree in economics, mathematics, education, social sciences, public policy or related fields
• Experience of 0-3 years, especially working in development research is preferred
• Excellent people management and organizational skills
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills
• Proficiency in data collection and/or acquisition
• Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred) or statistical analysis software or programming languages, along with proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Proficiency in digital data collection tools like SurveyCTO, Qualtrics, etc. including end-to-end management of data flows
• Fluency and excellent communication skills in English and Hindi is required
• Flexible, self-motivating, independent, and skilled to manage multiple tasks efficiently
• Team player with the ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments
• Attention to detail and a relentless attitude for solution-seeking to unexpected challenges in complex contexts
• Experience and/or willingness to travel and work in rural field locations
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations, including governments, preferred
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials preferred.