Vacancy: Quantitative Research Assistant: Save the Children (Young Lives project)

Quantitative Research Assistant

Save the Children (Young Lives project)

Location: New Delhi

Last Date for Applications: July 18, 2011

Email: renusab@gmail.com

About Young Lives

Young Lives is an innovative international study investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty. To do this we are tracking the lives of 12,000 children over 15 years in four developing countries – Ethiopia, India (in the state of Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were chosen to reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts. They face some of the common issues experienced by developing countries such as high debt burden, post-conflict reconstruction, and adverse environmental conditions such as drought and flood. By covering these countries, we aim to reveal patterns, commonalities and differences in four very different contexts where childhood – especially childhood poverty is changing.

The aim of Young Lives is to improve understanding of the causes and consequences of childhood poverty and to examine how policies affect children's well-being, in order to inform the development and implementation of policy and practice that will reduce childhood poverty. The role of education in children’s lives and its impacts on their life trajectories has emerged as a core theme, and a major focus for data collection and analysis.

We use a range of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods to track our sample children over time, starting with a baseline survey of the children, their households and communities that was conducted in 2002. Since then, we have carried out two further survey rounds of all the children and their households in 2006/7 and 2009, as well as 2 rounds of qualitative research with a smaller sub-sample of selected children in 2007 and 2008. Two further survey rounds are planned for 2013 and 2016, interspersed with qualitative sub-studies in the intervening years. A new school based component was initiated in 2010 to collect data on the character and quality of children’s schooling, including their experiences and perspectives on school.

In this way, we are collecting a wealth of information that provides insights into every phase of childhood. We are following the younger children from infancy to their mid-teens and the older children in the study through into adulthood, when some will become parents themselves. When this is matched with information gathered about the children’s parents, we will be able to reveal much about the intergenerational transmission of poverty, how families on the margins move in and out of poverty, and the policies that can make a real difference to their lives. Again, the role of education, and specifically the impact of Education for All policies is central. The unique longitudinal and mixed-methods design of Young Lives is yielding increasing benefits in terms of in-depth analysis of how and why changes occur in children’s lives and the broader political economy of childhood poverty.

Young Lives is a collaborative partnership between the University of Oxford’s Department of International Development, other UK universities, and research and government institutes in the study countries, alongside the international NGO, Save the Children. The study was set up in 2001 and will run until 2018. It is core-funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with sub-studies funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the Oak Foundation.

Further information, including publications, can be found on the Young Lives website: www.younglives.org.uk.

Overview of the role

This is a research position within the Young Lives Country Director India’s team. The post-holder will be responsible to a Young Lives Country Director and will work closely with the India and Oxford team of quantitative researchers.

Responsibilities/duties

1.  Supporting Young Lives researchers, policy and communications staff in both Oxford and India. This is likely to include:

·         Undertaking tasks related to preparing Young Lives survey data in order to support analysis and report writing;

·         Supporting ongoing data analysis, for example, by putting it into the context of other research, including Young Lives research, and current literature;

·         Carrying out agreed analyses of survey data using appropriate econometric and statistical models and techniques to address specific research questions.  Linking and merging data from external sources with Young Lives data where appropriate;

·         Preparing summary reports from analyses, including preparing narrative summaries, tables, graphs etc that can be used to best represent the findings in Young Lives presentations and reports. Preparing one to two page summaries of existing research papers;

·         Providing technical support to researchers and policy staff in their use of Stata to analyse survey data;

·         Undertaking literature reviews in areas relating to children and poverty and associated methods of data collection and analysis; and

·         Contributing to the design of ongoing Young Lives research and its dissemination

2. Assisting with other Young Lives tasks, activities and discussions as required, for example, taking notes of research meetings, and preparing presentations for conferences, etc.

Selection criteria

·         A Masters degree in a quantitative social science discipline with minimum two years of relevant experience (either through studies or work) involving data analysis;

·         Excellent analytical and statistical skills, including experience of using Stata and analysing large data sets (preferably household data sets from developing countries) and preferably of econometric modelling;

·         High level writing and communication skills and ability to produce reports; experience of editing research outputs in English;  

·         Experience of undertaking literature reviews and communicating complex information in summary form, preferably in an area related to Young Lives research;

·         Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication skills and preferably experience of working in multidisciplinary national teams;

·         Good personal organisational skills with experience of managing a varied and heavy workload and of working with administrative systems; and

·         Flexibility and adaptability and willingness to undertake travel to Andhra Pradesh

·         An interest and broad knowledge of childhood poverty and other social policy issues in India

Interested candidates should send their CV and a letter of application to Dr Renu Singh, Young Lives India Director at renusab@gmail.com

The successful candidate will be employed by Save the Children but seconded to work at the Young Lives country director office in Delhi. Save the Children aims to be an equal opportunity employer. Women candidates are encouraged to apply. Recruitment and selection procedures & checks reflect our commitment to protect children from abuse.