Research Associate Tunisia (GS-07)-IRI عودة إلى الفرص

Job Summary

Every employee of IRI is responsible for carrying out the Mission of IRI and demonstrating the Core Values in their day to day operations. The Core Values, which are IRI’s foundational building blocks include:  

Excellence– We believe in quality results delivered by investing in people. Freedom– We believe in exploration and experimentation to be agile and responsive. Respect- We believe in trust, empathy, and empowering people. Teamwork- We believe in diversity, inclusion, and the power of global collaboration. Transparency– We believe in open communication and clear decision-making. Accountability- We believe in personal responsibility as the foundation of success.

The Research Associate is an entry- to mid-level position in IRI’s Tunis office and provides research support for current and developing public opinion research studies in Tunisia and potentially in other countries in the region.

Position Requirements   

• Undergraduate degree in statistics, sociology, psychology, political science, international relations or related field. 
• 1-3 years of experience in public opinion research or related field
• Intermediate or higher understanding of statistics (at least one course) required, and of research methodology (at least once course) preferred.
• Experience with Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint required. Additional experience in Power BI preferred.
• At least 100 hours experience working with SPSS or similar statistical software required. Additional experience in R preferred.
• Excellent writing, research and communication skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Arabic, French and English.  

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

This role supports the IRI Tunisia office with assorted research tasks such as sampling design, instrument design, data quality control and analysis on a variety of quantitative and qualitative research studies in Tunisia (and potentially in other countries in region), ranging from large nationally representative polls to small focus group discussions. The Research Associate will execute these tasks based on standards set by IRI’s Center for Insights in Survey Research (CISR). Explicit guidance will be provided for each task, and the Research Associate is expected to perform assigned tasks largely error-free and in a timely and efficient manner after receiving initial training.

• The major responsibility of this position is to review SPSS datasets of survey data for quality control purposes. Such checks will include, but are not limited to, a review of the weighting scheme and census data, various internal cohesion checks to identify potential contradictions and/or deviations from fieldwork protocols, problematic patterns linked to specific interview languages/interviewers/regions etc., data structure review for potential indications that a question was not administered correctly such as a base being smaller or larger than expected, comparison of the data against previous IRI polls and/or third-party data, comparing actual sampling points to the sampling plan, a review of all aggregates and a selection of disaggregates flagging any unexpected findings, etc.
• Another major responsibility is to compare the raw data against figures cited in presentations and/or reports and/or dashboards and/or to produce custom crosstabulations or data comparison exported to excel. Alternatively, the position may require producing or updating presentations and/or dashboards.
• A secondary responsibility is questionnaire design, i.e. drafting questionnaires based on stakeholder discussions and rendering research objectives into questionnaires compliant with best practices for questionnaire design.
• Another secondary responsibility is designing qualitative instruments for focus groups or similar studies, observing such studies, reviewing and coding qualitative transcripts, and writing or reviewing analytical reports based on qualitative research studies.
• Throughout each research study, liaise with data collection partners or vendors, and serve as primary point of contact for research related inquiries from IRI’s headquarters in Washington DC. 
• Less frequently assigned responsibilities include:
• • • Preparation of codebooks.
    • Produce research memos on various topics.
    • Conduct or assist in briefings of research findings for a variety of stakeholders.

• Performs other duties as assigned.