Job Opportunity for Research Associate at Poverty Action Lab

Project Summary:

Precision Development (PxD) is designing a new weather forecasting service for its existing digital extension programme in Karnataka. We are collaborating with PxD to determine the optimal design of the service by running a “lab-in-the-field” experiment with a series of interactive workshops, during which coffee farmers will be invited to play a tablet-based “game”. We are looking to recruit an RA who will work closely with PxD and the field team in Karnataka. The project is looking for a short-term commitment of 3-4 months between January-April 2023. After this project, the RA will be given a higher preference than external candidates applying to other RA opportunities within J-PAL.

Location: Bengaluru. The RA will have to travel as per need to the three study districts.

Key Responsibilities: These include but are not limited to:

Research responsibilities:

·      Support PxD with testing of game

·      Pilot a few versions of the game on the field prior to actual launch

·      Support PxD with development of resources for the farmer workshops

·      Develop research and field protocols for the study and manage the IRB application

·      Train the field team to conduct the workshops

·      Set up quality checks for the implementation

·      Develop field plans for the workshops

·      Procure and manage logistics for the field team such as tablets, field stay etc.

·      Manage the field team while they conduct the workshops across districts

·      Ensure adherence to the timelines for the study and monitor enumerator performance closely. Flag any issues immediately without time lags.

·      Data management to ensure proper data flow and storage as per approved protocol

·      Assist with creating project documentation for reporting purposes.

Desired Qualifications

·      Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in economics, public policy, social sciences, engineering, development studies

·      Prefer any experience conducting research/managing development sector activities in the context of India, especially focus group discussions, training workshops for participants of an intervention, agricultural extension activities etc.

·      Fluency and excellent communication skills in English and preferably Kannada. Must know spoken Hindi, if not Kannada.

·      Basics in Stata, R or other data analysis software.

·      Ability to manage good working relationships with partner organizations.