Senior Research Officer

                      
ACTED Pakistan, Islamabad

Job Detail

Industry:	N.G.O./Social Services
Functional Area:	Researcher
Total Position:	1
Job Type:	Contract (First Shift (Day))
Department:	Islamabad
Job Location:	F-7, Islamabad, Pakistan
Gender:	Doesn't Matter
Minimum Education:	Bachelor's Degree
Career Level:	Experienced Professional
Minimum Experience:	3 Years
Salary Range:	PKR. 60,000 - 70,000/Month
Require Travel:	50%
Apply By:	Dec 21, 2015
Job Posting Date:	Dec 15, 2015

Job Description:

Assignment Under the supervision of the Research and Development Manager, the senior research Officer will support qualitative and qualitative research. S/he will support the team in developing research tools, designing theoretical frameworks, conducting qualitative interviews as well as checking the quality of quantitative data and conducting data analysis using programmes such as STATA, SPSS and NVivo as and when relevant. The Senior Officer will further work with the research team on developing proposals in the area of impact evaluation of humanitarian and development aid programmes as well as innovative approaches by identifying research questions and suitable strong methodologies relevant to this field The position will involve regular travel to data collection sites for supervising and ensuring quality of quantitative data-collection as well as monitoring focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The senior research Officer will take the lead in providing trainings on methodology and tools to field teams and monitoring collection of quality data.-y. The position shall be referred to in all external communications as "Senior Research Officer ". Functions Accountability to Communities and Beneficiaries The Senior Research Officer is responsible for ensuring that all research is conducted according to ethical standards and wih the informed consent of research participants. This is the responsibility of all members of the research team. 1. Research - Objective 1.1: Literature reviews and analysis of secondary data The Senior Research Officer will be responsible for researching relevant background information including academic articles and developing conceptual frameworks, annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. The Senior Research Officer , at times in cooperation with consultants, will also be asked to work on the conceptualization and implementation of strategic reviews as well as the write up of final review reports. - Objective 1.2: Designing of methodologies and tools and ensuring data quality control The Senior Research Officer shall be responsible for developing methodologies and tools for data collection and training research teams on these. The research Officer will further crosscheck the quality of the data by regularly checking forms, data-entry, monitoring field data-collection, verify the transcription of interview data received from field research teams and will provide guidance to field research teams or research assistants , in quality data collection (). - Objective 1.4: Data analysis (Qualitative and Quantitative) S/he shall be responsible for conducting analysis of qualitative and quantitative data At least basic knowledge of the methods of qualitative data analysis is (pivot tables excel, basic SPSS or STATA analysis) is crucial to be able to monitor more in depth analysis,. under the guidance of Research and Development Manager and in cooperation with statistical consultants. - Objective 1.5: Report writing The Senior Research Officer will support the research team with writing up research briefings, literature reviews as well as full research reports. S/he will further support the development of publications for academic journals. For this she/he will need excellent report writing skills in English as well as outstanding analytical skills, preferably with a record of successful publications in peer-reviewed journals. - Objective 1.5: Financial, logistics and line management Where relevant to the project and departmental requirement s/he may be asked to assist with financial management of small project components, logistical tasks as well as recruitment and line management of staff members. S/he wil be directly responsible for the line management of field research teams on assigned research tasks and projects as well as the capacity building of research assistants and junior officers in the department. However, as every staff member, s/he will also be expected to carry out tasks related to self administration. 2. Programme and Organisational Development Under the direction of the Country Research Manager and in coordination with AMEU, the Research Officer may be asked to support study designs for the evaluation of ACTED country programmes as well as wider research. The position will offer an enthusiastic candidate an opportunity to share ideas about potential research programmes and be part of a newly established dynamic research unit within ACTED Pakistan, that will inform the strategic development of ACTED’s operations in the area of development cooperation. - Objective 2.1: Study design and proposal wrtiing. The Senior Research Officer may be asked to assist the Research and Development Manager in the design and planning of research projects of a qualitative and quantitative nature, including impact evaluations and the analysis of existing data sets collected by ACTED research and AMEU teams. S/he will also be asked to support the department in identifying funding opportunities and developing proposals for research projects. - Objective 2.2: Departmental representation S/he will share with the Research and Development Manager the representation of ACTED at external conferences and events as well as partnership development meetings. S/he may also be asked to represent the department when the Research and Development Manager is on leave. Objective 2.3 : Departmental development S/he will be responsible for supporting the department in developing departmental tools such as research training manuals and ethics guidelines. Finally, s/he will be expected to support the Research and Development Department Manager with establishing strategic partnerships with universities, think tanks and technical bodies for future cooperation and joint programmes. In line with Objective 2.1 this may also involve identifying funding opportunities for such partnerships. Objective 2.4 : Organizational Development Like every team member of ACTED, s/he will support the organisation in identifying learning opportunities and best practices within the organization. . S/he will further be expected to take initiative in providing training on research methods to other ACTED staff members including to and in cooperation with other departments, notably MIS and AMEU.

Skills Required:

- Strong leadership skills. - Strong organizational and management skills. - Above average decision making and analytical skills. - Strong problem solving, negotiating and influencing skills. - Excellent oral and written English communication skills. - Ability to maintain non-partisanship and to remain neutral. - Knowledge/skills in Computer