Job Opportunity for Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia in Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

## Research Associate – Early Childhood Education – J-PAL South Asia

 

**About J-PAL**

 

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 over 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

 

**About J-PAL South Asia**

 

J-PAL South Asia, the regional office based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in India, analyzes 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. We have a growing number of partnerships in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

 

**Job Description**

 

The Policy team at J-PAL South Asia (J-PAL SA) disseminates findings of J-PAL’s research; develops relationships with governments, civil society, and academic stakeholders; catalyzes scale-ups and replications of effective projects; and assists in conceptualizing new research projects. The team works closely with the global J-PAL office based at MIT to align the regional strategy with broader organizational objectives.

 

This Research Associate position will support the Early Childhood Education (ECE) project, which aims to evaluate Pratham’s early childhood education programs through a randomized controlled trial. This is an excellent opportunity to gain a strong understanding of issues relating to ECE, a sector that is increasingly attracting a lot of attention from researchers, policy makers and implementers.

 

**Responsibilities:**

 

* Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercises, refining study design and surveying instruments.

* Managing field teams: 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.

* Overseeing implementation of the evaluation in accordance with the research design, in association with our partner organization.

* Maintaining relationships with partner organizations at both headquarters and field levels.

* Supervising data collection and data-entry, and ensuring data quality and productivity.

* Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and preparation of documents and presentations for dissemination.

* Data cleaning and management, including developing scripts in Stata to analyze survey data, clean data and identify trends across time for all ongoing data collection efforts.

* Reviewing and vetting project datasets and maintaining an efficient data documentation system.

* Working with other members of the team to reconcile any gaps or errors in the data.

* Data analysis and synthesis, including liaising with members of the project team by sending them statistics as and when required, generating aggregated views of the data for various stakeholders, and assisting in documenting data collection efforts.

* Reporting to PIs, Research Managers and partners on some/all of the above-mentioned activities.

* Maintaining compliance with all J-PAL protocols and policies.

 

**Qualifications and Experience:**

 

* Bachelor’s/ Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, or related fields.

* 0-2 years of experience, experience working in the education sector preferred.

* Experience in working in rural areas.

* Excellent management/ organizational skills and ability to solve unexpected problems.

* Strong quantitative skills.

* Working knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred), MATLAB/R.

* Familiarity with RCTs.

* Demonstrated experience managing a team.

* Flexible, self-motivating, independent and manages multiple tasks efficiently.

* Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments.

* Attention to detail.

* Ability to communicate effectively with different stakeholders.

 

**Location:** Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

 

**Start Date:** ASAP

 

**Length of Commitment:** One year

 

**Language Requirement:** English and Hindi

 

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

 

**To Apply:**

 

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply through the J-PAL South Asia website: [link to J-PAL South Asia website]

 

For any queries, please write to: [email protected]