Research Officer

About BBC Media Action

Job Summary

Overall Purpose of the Job
Reporting to the Senior Research Officer, the Research Officer will support the Senior Research Officer to deliver all necessary research for BBC Media Action Afghanistan. The Research Officer will undertake research to inform the strategy, content and quality of BBC Media Action’s media and communication projects. In particular, the Research Officer will design and deliver research and analyse data to support and evaluate the health project. The postholder will design research instruments, pilot research instruments, and undertake qualitative interviews. He or she will also analyse and interpret data, and write reports and presentation, ensuring the research is insightful and useful by production and creative teams. The Research Officer will support Research Assistants, and build their capacity to undertake and manage research activities.

Duties & Responsibilities

Main duties and Responsibilities

Assist the Senior Research Officer and Senior Project Manager to manage the day-to-day research operations including designing research, project planning, timelines and delivery

Support the formulation of research designs and preparing RFPs/research briefs (where appropriate) to complete research activities in consultation with colleagues in Kabul and London

Design and review research instruments such as discussion guides

Lead field teams in conducting fieldwork, including briefing teams and independently supervising the piloting of the research instruments, and recruitment of research participants as needed

Monitor and control the quality of fieldwork and data collection

Moderate focus groups and conduct in-depth interviews and continually look for ways to improve data collection, research design, moderation and analysis of data

Undertake analysis of qualitative data

Support Research Assistants to analyse and draft research reports

Help to presenting research findings and recommendations to BBC Media Action production and project teams, donors and other stakeholders

Train and share knowledge with Research Assistants, helping to build their research skills and project management knowledge.

Job Requirements

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience


Experience of participatory rural appraisal, observation or ethnography.

Experience of audience and media research.

Experience of working in public health, polio and child immunisation, women and gender rights and empowerment, and gender-based violence.


Relevant Competencies

Planning and organisation - able to think ahead in order to establish and efficient and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritises and plans activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources.

Influencing and persuading - able to present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince others. Can draw from a range of strategies to persuade people in a way that results in agreement or behaviour change.

Communication - able to get one’s message understood clearly by adopting a range of styles, tools and techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information.

Managing relationships and team working - able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people. Works co-operatively with others to be part of a team, as opposed to working separately or competitively.

Creative Thinking – Is able to transform creative ideas/impulses into practical reality. Can look at existing situations and problems in novel ways and come up with creative solutions.

Resilience - manages personal effectiveness by managing emotions in the face of pressure, setbacks or when dealing with provocative situations. Demonstrates an approach to work that is characterised by commitment, motivation and energy.

Flexibility - adapts and works effectively with a variety of situations, individuals or groups. Able to understand and appreciate different and opposing perspectives on an issue, to adapt an approach as the requirements of a situation change, and to change or easily accept changes in one’s own organisation or job requirements.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience


A bachelor degree from social science or similar discipline.

Professional experience of market or social research in a development or research organisation/agency

Excellent written and spoken Pashto, Dari and English.

Experience of using qualitative research techniques such as sampling, data collection, data management, coding, and analysis using a qualitative framework.

Experience conducting focus group discussions and in-depth interviews

Experience of developing qualitative code-lists and framework and undertaking qualitative data analysis.

Experience writing up research findings and disseminating them in non-technical language to a wide range of audiences

Good time management skills, with a track record of delivering research findings to deadlines.

Demonstrable understanding of cultural diversity and cross-cultural research within Afghanistan.

Submission Guideline

Submission Guideline
Interested applicants should carefully complete the BBC Media Action job application form (attached) and email to

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this role.

Please remember to mention the position title at the subject line of your emails.

The applications may not be acceptable later than 16th July 2017.

Functional Area

Media

Countries

Submission Email

kabulhr@af.bbcmediaaction.org

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