Overview of CSBC
The Centre for Social and Behaviour Change (CSBC), Ashoka University - India’s leading liberal arts University – is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The vision of CSBC is to establish an institution, based out of India that is globally reputed for thought leadership and excellence in impactful behaviour change interventions for low-income and marginalised populations. The Centre is focused on bringing new capabilities such as behavioural science, design thinking, advanced data analytics, and responsive feedback to governments, practitioners, and donors to help better design and optimise behaviour change interventions. We work closely with Central and State Governments as well as other stakeholders in the areas of nutrition, sanitation, financial inclusion, maternal and newborn care, data privacy, and agriculture.

Overview of Role
CSBC operates across three important verticals:

• Policy and Advocacy - aimed at providing technical support on building Behavioural Insights capabilities/units within Government, State Departments, and other NGOs
• Research - aimed at developing a strong body of behaviour science research in India, and
• Visibility - aimed at encouraging the growth of the behavioural science community in India through promulgation of scientific, policy and results-oriented resources

The Associate will be working with the Research Vertical to support design and implementation of various academic projects in the field of behaviour science. The role would involve:

• Conducting a mix of secondary and primary research to gather behavioural insights
• Supporting the design and on-field implementation of various research projects (employing the methodologies ranging from qualitative interviews to experimental data collection)
• And finally writing papers and reports, along with developing other innovative knowledge products using insights generated from this research.

Responsibilities

The Research Associate would be responsible for overseeing the full gamut of activities ranging from design and implementation to analysis for different projects under the Research Vertical.

Supporting the development of experimental design protocols for research projects

• Organising research ideation workshops within the CSBC Team and with other external research experts
• Conducting literature reviews to deepen understanding of the behavioural science evidence base for identified project areas
• Drafting, piloting and programming measurement instruments for qualitative field research and lab, lab-in-the-field and field experiments
• Conducting sample size calculations
• Devising implementation and deployment plans

Supporting the execution of the lab, lab-in-the-field and field experiments:

• Coordinating with different Project Leads for discussing research requirements and providing regular updates
• Planning and managing recruitment of subjects for different studies based on the research requirements
• Ensuring smooth delivery of the data collection process in line with the protocols
• Conducting regular quality control checks (on data entry and randomization during the data collection phase)
• Coordinating with enumerators and subjects

Analysing secondary and primary data to support with hypothesis validation

• Carrying out programming necessary for the collection of outcome data (in particular for lab and online experiments)
• Assisting with development of pre-analysis plans and cleaning and archiving data
• Supporting dissemination efforts of the findings through preparation of reports/ presentations/ papers/articles, etc.

Skills Required

• A Bachelor's/Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, mathematics, statistics, or related fields.
• Experience of programming online surveys and virtual lab experiments in oTree, zTree, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, SurveyCTO, etc.
• Extensive experience with statistical analysis software (such as R or Stata).
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials/clinical trials/quasi-experiments.
• Ability to write and present research findings articulately
• Excellent management and organisational skills along with strong quantitative skills.
• Flexible, self-motivated, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and be a team player.
• Ability to excel in unstructured and changing environments.
• Some conversational-level skills in regional languages.
• Ability to give and receive constructive feedback.

This role is based in India. Hence, the candidate should have work authorisation in India (preferably Indian citizenship or Overseas Citizenship of India). The selected candidate will be offered a full-time (Monday-Friday) contract for one year with the possibility for renewal based on the discretion of the Centre and its funders.
However, due to the COVID-19 situation, CSBC has switched to a work-from-home model of operations. Given these circumstances, the role would be on-boarded and executed remotely. The person would need to have their own laptop and access to a functioning internet connection. They would need to be available through regular working calls to virtually join team discussions and to support project requests.

How to Apply

Send your application to csbc@ashoka.edu.in

Name of the position that you are applying for (full Job Title as mentioned above)
A cover letter, highlighting your experience relevant to the job requirements
CV (not exceeding two pages)
How you came across this job description
In case you are referred by or have already spoken to someone as CSBC, kindly mention their name and Email ID