Research Assistant (part-time, 3 days a week, 1 year contract)

The IFS is looking to appoint a part-time research assistant to support a major evaluation of a youth violence reduction intervention.

About the project

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, alongside the Anna Freud Centre, are evaluating whether the effectiveness of Your Choice, a new way of supporting young people who work with a youth worker to keep them safe and health.  They are currently running an efficacy trial of the programme across the 32 boroughs of London, building on the pilot trial of the same programme.

Your Choice focuses on helping young people manage their thoughts and feelings and achieve their goals by building a strong relationship between the young person and the youth worker. Your Choice (YC) provides training for youth practitioners in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques, who then aim to provide 3 sessions per-week, for 12 -18 weeks to young people. Developed by the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA), and supported by the London Violence Reduction Unit, youth practitioners receive 5 days of training and an accompanying handbook and resources, followed by monthly supervision from a Clinical Lead. Practitioners’ meetings with young people aim to build trusting and authentic relationships, using CBT techniques and tools to support the young person to better understand themselves, equip them with coping strategies, and empower them to disrupt unwanted patterns of behaviour. In this project, 11-17 year olds assessed by a multi-agency risk panel as having a medium or high risk of harm or vulnerability as a result of extra-familial harm were referred to the programme.

What’s the opportunity?

The team are looking for a research assistant to support the trial with the primary collection of data on young people, the quality assurance of the data, and the adherence of the trial with ethical protocols. As part of this work, you will have an opportunity to work with other researchers on the team, as well as a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, practitioners, and funders. This is a great opportunity to develop your skills and learn about research data collection methods and contribute to an interesting programme aimed at improving the welfare and opportunities of disadvantaged individuals in your local area.

Tasks may include:

• Coordinating primary data collection – you will coordinate the team’s effort to collect baseline and endline data on trial participants, using a range of approaches. As part of this, you will investigate the barriers to data collection, problem solve with the evaluation and project team, and lead on the implementation of these solutions.

• Quality assurance of primary data - you will clean primary data and produce analysis  and liaise with a range of stakeholders to assess its quality.  

• Ensuring safeguarding concerns are appropriately dealt with in adherence to the ethical protocol.

About the person

We are looking for candidates who have:

• Are completing or have recently completed university degree in social sciences

• Understand the fundamentals of quantitative research and evaluation methods. You can perform simple analysis, interpret and communicate results to other team members. Previous experience working on a trial is desirable, but not essential.

• Have excellent project management skills: you can plan work and execute against that plan; identify and act on risks and issues; ensure that key stakeholders are engage throughout

• Are able and keen to develop solutions to problems, pilot these before implementation, and are able to evaluate whether or not they worked

• Have very good written and oral communication skills

• Demonstrate exceptional organisational skills, are detailed oriented and are reliable

• Experience in MS Excel is essential; knowledge of STATA is desirable but not essential.

• Can work three days a week, including at least two days from the IFS office in Bloomsbury

IFS recognise that there are underrepresented groups within research. Therefore, we welcome and encourage young people from Black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ communities, and neurodiverse groups to apply.

I’m interested! Who do I contact?

If you’re interested in joining us, please upload your CV and Cover Letter (as one document) detailing why you are interested in the post, how you believe you fit the requirements (including any relevant experience), and when you would be able to start.