{"id":3161673,"url":"https://alion.io/job/malaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau","title":"Qualitative Research Assistant (Plateau)","company":{"id":1772449,"name":"Malaria Consortium","domain":"malariaconsortium.org","url":"https://alion.io/company/malariaconsortium","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":null,"truth_index":null},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Jos, Nigeria"],"countries":["NG"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":12000,"max_usd":34000,"period":"year","method":null,"sample_n":4082},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T10:08:39Z","employer_posted_date":null,"last_verified_at":"2026-10-23T10:08:39Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":null,"days_open":4,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":4},"description":"Malaria Consortium (MC) is implementing an embedded implementation research study in selected local government areas (LGAs) of Kogi, Plateau and Sokoto States to assess approaches for linking routine immunization (RI) activities with Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) delivery. The approaches comprise: A, structured RI messaging during SMC contact; B, Approach A plus community engagement/social and behaviour change communication (SBCC); and C, Approach B plus immunization-status screening, referral and follow-up. A comparator arm receives standard SMC.\n\nThe qualitative component explores acceptability, feasibility, implementation burden, fidelity, perceived effectiveness, equity and scalability. MC seeks six state-based Research Assistants (RAs), two in each state, and other state-level data collection team members (Moderators, Notetakers and qualitative data transcribers) to support the approved qualitative fieldwork. The RAs will work under the day-to-day technical direction and supervision of the Lead Qualitative Research Consultant and within MC-approved study procedures.\n\nWe are recruiting to fill the position below:\n\nJob Title: Qualitative Research Assistant\n\nLocation: Plateau\n\nEmployment Type: Full-time\n\nPurpose and limits of the assignment\n\nNo cadre is engaged to independently design or amend the protocol, approve sampling changes, lead the consultancy, undertake study-wide qualitative analysis, or prepare the final integrated research report.\nTo engage and deploy four complementary cadres—State Research Assistants, to undertake approved state-level qualitative fieldwork.\nDuties are allocated by cadre and may overlap only when specifically assigned, personnel are trained and competent, and the Lead Consultant authorises the arrangement.\nThis ToR covers field personnel only.\nResearch Assistants coordinate recruitment, scheduling, field logistics and quality monitoring; Moderators conduct FGDs/KIIs; Note Takers document sessions and support debriefs; and Transcribers produce accurate, de-identified transcripts and approved translations.\nAll cadres work under the technical supervision of the Lead Qualitative Research Consultant and Malaria Consortium (MC) oversight.\n\nQualitative Study Participants and Planned Sample\n\nState Research Assistants will implement the approved recruitment plan and coordinate scheduling; Moderators and Note Takers will support eligibility checks and consent within their training and assigned roles; Transcribers will work only with authorised, consented recordings.\nThe Lead Qualitative Research Consultant will operationalize the approved multi-stage sampling process with MC and government counterparts.\nNo field cadre may independently change the sampling frame or respondent targets.\n\nParticipant Identification and Recruitment\n\nThe Research Assistants with the support of the moderators, Note takers and transcribers will coordinate the implementation of the MC-approved sampling and recruitment plan, ensuring that approved recruitment lists and eligibility criteria are followed. They will oversee the screening process, maintain accurate screening and recruitment logs, monitor recruitment progress and support the selection of participants representing diverse roles, geographical locations and levels of intervention exposure.\nThe Research Assistants, based in Kogi, Plateau and Sokoto States, with the support of the moderators, Note takers and transcribers will coordinate participant identification and recruitment for qualitative data collection in their respective states, working closely with Malaria Consortium (MC), State Programme Managers and relevant state/LGA authorities to facilitate official introductions, access to selected clusters and model facilities, and participant mobilisation through appropriate community and programme structures.\nThe Research Assistants will monitor recruitment against the approved state-level targets and data collection schedule, document recruitment challenges, ineligibility and non-response, and promptly communicate any proposed respondent replacements to the study lead and MC for review and approval. MC will retain final approval of the recruitment matrix and any replacement of a selected respondent.\nThe Research Assistants will coordinate the identification, recruitment and scheduling of the relevant respondent groups in their respective states, including caregivers and community drug distributors (CDDs) from the selected qualitative cluster in each intervention LGA; health workers from model facilities serving the selected clusters; community/traditional leaders in the three Approach C LGAs; and programme stakeholders purposively selected based on their responsibilities for SMC, routine immunization (RI), primary healthcare (PHC) planning, implementation, supervision or oversight.\nThe Research Assistants will coordinate with trained qualitative data collectors to ensure that prospective participants are approached appropriately, eligibility is verified, and recruitment and informed consent procedures comply with the approved study protocol and ethical requirements. Recruitment and consent will be undertaken by trained research personnel who are not directly responsible for providing services to prospective participants to minimize potential coercion and power imbalances.\n\nResponsibilities of each Research Assistant\n\nMaintain a rolling recruitment and fieldwork tracker disaggregated by state, LGA, respondent group and intervention approach; flag under-represented groups, contradictory cases and emerging gaps.\nPrepare and maintain a state-level workplan and daily schedule under the Lead Consultant’s direction; coordinate with the second RA in the state to avoid duplication and ensure coverage.\nReview the approved protocol, assigned respondent guides, information sheets/consent forms, recruitment plan and state-specific field schedule; attend training and the field pre-test as directed.\nScreen and recruit eligible participants against approved criteria; document refusals and non-response; arrange FGDs and KIIs; obtain and document informed consent and separate audio-recording consent in accordance with the approved procedures.\nPrepare a concise state-level completion report and outstanding-issues log; hand over all assigned records to the Lead Consultant and designated MC study personnel.\nCheck session records, audio quality (where consented), field notes, respondent IDs, dates and metadata; complete same-day debriefs and implement corrective actions requested by the Lead Consultant.\nLiaise with approved state/LGA, health-facility and community contacts to arrange access, private venues and appropriate recruitment, without creating coercion or promising incentives.\nSupport approved transcription/translation coordination and transcript-to-audio or bilingual quality checks where assigned, without assuming responsibility for all study-wide transcription or analysis.\nFacilitate or assist with FGDs/KIIs, probing and note-taking as assigned by the Lead Consultant, using the correct respondent-specific guide and intervention-approach routing.\nSecurely label, de-identify where appropriate, organize and transfer field notes, audio, consent records and other assigned materials through MC-approved systems; keep identifying records separate.\n\nField Logistics and Responsibilities:\n\nItem\n\nResponsibility/arrangement\n\nParticipant identification/mobilization\n\nMC/state/LGA counterparts facilitate approved introductions; Research Assistants coordinate screening, recruitment and scheduling; Moderators verify eligibility/consent as assigned; Note Takers document session codes; Transcribers have no recruitment role.\n\nVenues\n\nMC/state teams support venue identification; Research Assistants coordinate booking and logistics; Moderators assess privacy and suitability; Note Takers prepare recording/notes materials.\n\nParticipant transport reimbursement\n\nMC alone approves and administers reimbursement permitted by ethics documents; no Research Assistant, Moderator, Note Taker or Transcriber may introduce incentives or vary arrangements.\n\nGovernment/state/LGA introductions\n\nMC and government partners provide official introductions; Research Assistants coordinate field access under Lead Consultant direction.\n\nAccess to quantitative/programme data for triangulation\n\nMC controls authorised programme data. Field cadres may access only the materials required for assigned tasks, through approved channels.\n\nExpected deliverables by staff cadre \n\nNo.\n\nCadre-specific deliverable\n\nTiming\n\n1\n\nResearch Assistants: state workplan, stakeholder contacts and field schedule\n\nWithin 2 working days of start\n\n2\n\nResearch Assistants: approved recruitment and scheduling tracker; Moderators: session readiness/consent check\n\nWithin 4 working days; updated as needed\n\n3\n\nResearch Assistants: daily recruitment/session tracker; Moderators: completed FGD/KII session record; Note Takers: session metadata\n\nDaily during fieldwork\n\n4\n\nResearch Assistants: state completion report; Moderators/Note Takers: session issue summaries; Transcribers: transcription status report\n\nWithin 2 working days after state fieldwork\n\n5\n\nAll cadres: final handover of assigned records and files, verified by Lead Consultant\n\nBy last day of engagement\n\nQualifications and Selection Criteria for Research Assistant\n\nProficiency in English and relevant local language(s) in the assigned state; strong communication and organisational skills.\nAt least three years of relevant qualitative public-health research or field coordination experience; experience with FGDs and KIIs, recruitment, note-taking and interviewing.\nResident in the state of assignment and available to travel to selected LGAs and work throughout the agreed period.\nDemonstrated understanding of informed consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, research data quality and secure file handling.\nMaster’s Degree in public health, epidemiology, social / behavioural sciences, implementation science, health services research or related discipline.\nKnowledge of SMC, routine immunisation, PHC or community health delivery is desirable.\n\nQuality Assurance Requirements:\n\nAll sessions must use the approved version of the relevant respondent-specific guide.\nOnly personnel demonstrating adequate competence during training/practical exercises will be deployed.\nTranscribers will verify transcripts against audio and use agreed speaker codes; the Lead Consultant determines independent bilingual review and any subsequent analytical coding/double-coding.\nAll four cadres document deviations and adaptations within their responsibilities; the Lead Consultant maintains the overall methodological and analysis audit trail.\nEach cadre submits its assigned editable field records, notes, audio metadata, transcripts, translations and discrepancy logs in approved formats. Codebooks, coding matrices and analytical projects remain the Lead Consultant’s responsibility.\nModerators and Note Takers must participate in post-session debriefs; Research Assistants maintain session QA and corrective-action logs; Transcribers must flag inaudible segments, inconsistencies and translation uncertainties.\nAll editable datasets/files, transcripts, codebooks, matrices, coding outputs and analysis project files must be complete and submitted in agreed formats.\n\nEthics, quality assurance and data protection:\n\nAll four cadres must comply with the approved protocol, ethics approvals, participant information sheets and consent forms. Research Assistants coordinate ethical recruitment and scheduling; Moderators verify and document consent, including separate audio-recording permission; Note Takers protect identities in field notes; and Transcribers process only authorised recordings and redact identifiers. Participation is voluntary and no field staff member may promise incentives. Any permitted transport reimbursement is determined and administered by MC.\nEvery cadre must use approved study...","description_format":"text","description_chars":18493,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-23T16:17:00Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":23,"reasons":["seen:3","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/malaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/malaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-27T21:24:23Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":12773,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1772449},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1772449"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmalaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fmalaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fmalaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/malaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmalaria-consortium-qualitative-research-assistant-plateau"}]}