Overview
The Research Manager – Education (Qualitative) position will lead the design and implementation of a qualitative research study examining the community political economy of learning among Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar. The role will focus on generating actionable evidence and insights on social norms, power dynamics, decision-making processes and community governance structures shaping learner’s engagement and service delivery.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design of a community-based, participatory qualitative research study framework, including power and influence mapping, social norms diagnostics, and community governance mapping.
- Develop tools using participatory, community-based, culturally appropriate methods.
- Recruit, train and supervise Rohingya community researchers on qualitative research methods, ethics, and facilitation skills.
- Set up, support and actively engage the Rohingya Research Reference group.
- Oversee data collection across multiple camps ensuring clear protocols for quality data collection.
- Facilitate the process of data transcription and translation (from Rohingya to English) for analyses.
- Ensure adherence to ethical research standards and clear quality assurance mechanisms.
- Plan and conduct an iterative analysis approach to synthesize findings.
- Set up community validation workshops to present findings.
- Draft the analyses in the form of tangible research outputs (research reports, power and influence maps, guidance notes and policy briefs etc).
- Work closely with the IRC-Education program team to translate research insights into practical interventions.
- Contribute to sector-level learning through the dissemination and presentation of findings.
- Lead coordination with education sector partners, government authorities, and other stakeholders.
- Manage and secure all necessary approvals for data collection.
- Coordinate planning and execution of qualitative data collection.
- Align and standardize qualitative research tools, methodologies, and data quality assurance processes.
- Facilitate effective communication and collaboration between research, program, and MEAL teams.
Required Experience
- Minimum 5-7 years of relevant experience in qualitative research in humanitarian or development settings.
- Strong experience in social norms research, participatory and community-based research, gender and inclusion.
- Experience working in humanitarian or crisis-affected contexts is desirable.
- Experience managing field teams and large-scale qualitative research studies.
- Expertise in qualitative research methods, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews, participatory tools, and ethnographic or longitudinal approaches.
- Experience with power analyses/political economy analyses or social norms frameworks.
Qualifications
Master’s degree in education, social sciences, anthropology, development studies, or related fields.
