Job Opportunity for Research Associate – Telehealth at Poverty Action Lab

Organization:

 J-PAL South Asia

Location:

 India

Education:

 Bachelor’s
 Master’s

Start Date (Earliest):

 15 June 2022

Length of Commitment:

 Less than one year

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.

In particular, the selected candidate will work on a Randomized Control Trial to assess the impact of telehealth on access to health services and health outcomes. The project, realized in partnership with the NGO Healing Fields Foundation (HFF), will take place in 400 rural Indian villages that will be randomized into receiving a new telehealth program or not, with or without a local facilitator, who will assist patients in connecting to the call and follow up with them after the visit. We will further generate experimental variation in the price of the telehealth services and the ability of the health professional that a patient is assigned to.

The project will help understand whether and under which conditions telehealth improves access to healthcare and leads to better health outcomes for rural populations. With this project we plan to push the research frontier on health inequality and technology adoption, and on frictions that prevent healthcare utilization.

The three main questions this project will answer are:

• What is the causal impact of telehealth on access to health services and health outcomes among people in rural areas?
• Does the presence of a facilitator increase the spreading and utilization of telehealth?
• Which types of patients are more likely to use telehealth with vs. without the facilitator? Does the impact of telehealth differ across gender, income groups, and age groups?

Research Associates work closely with Research Managers & Principal Investigators who guide and supervise them in their various tasks.

Key Responsibilities

Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety tasks including, but not limited to:

• Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercises, refining study design and survey instruments
• Managing teams: Recruit, train, and supervise 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 to ensure good data quality during both these phases
  Co-ordinating with the Administrative and Finance team on a variety of tasks related to field staff contracting and payments
• Overseeing the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with our partner organization
• 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 
• Assisting with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis
• Assisting in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities
• Reporting to PIs on all of the above-mentioned 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
• Experience living in a developing country is a strong plus
• Previous experience in development research preferred
• Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills
• Fluency and excellent communication skills in English
• Some conversational-level skills in regional languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Kannada [AG1] etc. preferred but not required
• 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 
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials/clinical trials/quasi-experiments preferred
• Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments
• Ability to work independently and in rural field locations

Note on Work Authorizations:

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.

How to Apply

Complete the J-PAL/IPA common application. After completing a brief registration, choose the Research job category, then select “Research Associate TelehealthHFF, J-PAL South Asia” and include a resume, cover letter, transcripts, and two recommendation letters. Note that applications with incomplete submissions will not be considered.

You are able to submit your application before your references complete their recommendation letters; however, you must include their contact information before submitting your application. Given the volume of applications received, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.