The University of Southern California (USC) is inviting applications for a Predoctoral Research Fellow. The Predoctoral Research Fellow will provide analytical research support to a portfolio of studies conducted through the Center for Economic and Social Research at USC, which is working with Yale University on a body of applied microeconomic research projects on women’s access to digital technology in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. The hourly rate range for this position is $29.40 – $33.34.
Roles/Responsibilities
- Working directly with Global South-based counterparts, support formative piloting work through contributing to questionnaires, developing appropriate protocols and quality checks, and participating in scoping activities to determine appropriate design of proposed studies
- Contribute to institutional human subjects (IRB) proposals and modifications, ensuring protocols proposed are appropriate and applied
- Scrape, process, and clean large administrative datasets from public websites
- Clean and process secondary datasets (e.g., household surveys) for analysis
- Participate in survey design and data collection activities, including designing and coding questionnaires and related forms for digital data collection, and setting up and running data quality checks for large-scale data collection activities
- Prepare appropriate documentation and guidelines for all data and field-related activities
- Contribute to pre-analysis plans, papers, and other written material, upon request
- Prepare literature reviews per request of senior researchers
- Draft policy briefs and presentations, presenting research evidence in a compelling and policy-forward format, and effectively representing the research to external stakeholders
- Contribute to regular reports and presentations for donor audiences
- Coordinate with project teams to ensure timely submission of deliverables, as well as provide support to field staff as necessary
- Other duties, as required
Eligibility
- Bachelors or Master’s degree in economics or a related field
- Proven analytical skills and proficiency in Stata or R (Stata preferred)
- Solid understanding of randomized controlled trials and program evaluation
- Strong interest in public policy and economic development
- Excellent oral and written English skills
- Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite
- Mature, self-directed, with the ability to multitask and meet deadlines
Requirements
- Advanced coursework in econometrics
- Basic skills in Python
- Experience living or working in India or Sub-Saharan Africa; knowledge of an Indian language or Swahili an asset
- Data collection and field research experience
- Knowledge of poverty and gender issues
pplicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at us***@*sc.edu. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.
