Research Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Requisition ID: 1783

Job Summary

• The Research Associate (RA) will lead the data collection and management of research projects within the Nigeria Country Office under the supervision of the Research Manager.
• The RA will supervise project field staff, including the field managers, supervisors and enumerators, while ensuring timely submission of deliverables to donors and partners.
• The Research Associate will perform a variety of tasks related to managing day-to-day research activities, from planning to implementation and monitoring research data quality. These include, but are not limited to:

Responsibilities
Project Management:

• Programming survey instruments in SurveyCTO, following programming best practices.
• Supervising and monitoring data collection to ensure the high quality of the data. 
• Implementing data quality checks and fixing issues with data collected during data collection. 
• Managing project finances including budgeting, expense tracking, and financial reporting.
• Cleaning data on an ongoing basis.

Partner Engagement:

• Handling day-to-day PI and partner communications.
• Providing timely updates and responses to partner organizations and participating in meetings with key stakeholders.
• Keeping the Research Manager apprised of all developments in the project and serve as the key link between the field staff, research team, and Principal Investigators.

Technical Leadership:

• Prepare training materials and collaborate with the survey firm in conducting enumerator training and piloting instruments.
• Ensuring that all team members follow necessary protocols and procedures. 
• Regularly communicate project updates to the Research Manager.
• Providing training and supervision for research project staff.
• Supporting the country office in project and policy development as needed.

Analysis & Reporting:

• Assisting preliminary analysis and ensuring ready access to all data for researchers.
• Documenting in detail all activities related to the project.
• Maintaining accurate records of interviews, safeguarding the confidentiality of subjects, as necessary.
• Preparing high-quality progress and results reports to Principal Investigators (PI), research partners, and funding agencies, and sharing them timely.
• Producing dissemination materials such as presentations, final reports, and evidence briefs.
• And other tasks that may be assigned by the Research Manager.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy, social science, or a related field; graduate degree strongly preferred
• 2-5 years of relevant work experience, including experience in economics research, impact evaluations, international development
• Advanced Stata competency
• Experience with quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis 
• Experience managing field data collection
• Strong professional writing skills
• Strong client-facing and presentation skills
• Fluency in English 
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility, and ability to learn at a fast pace
• Passion for making data-driven decisions a reality in the international development sector.
• Experience with research project management in Nigeria
• Experience in randomized control trials

Travel Requirements:

• Expect to spend at least 50% of the time in the study sites during data collection periods.