The interview started with a brief introduction of my background, followed by situational questions testing field survey management, data quality assurance, and stakeholder handling. It concluded with a discussion on past field challenges.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
"You notice that 15% of respondents are missing values for a key health variable, but only in Wave 2 of a longitudinal survey. How would you investigate this?"
I applied online. I interviewed at J-PAL (Patna, Bihar) in May 2026
Interview
I received a response from the J-PAL team about a week after applying through their careers portal. The first round was a screening call with HR to discuss my background and strong interest in development economics research. The second round was a technical interview with the Principal Investigators where I was asked about my experience with Stata and Python, my understanding of experimental design and RCT methodology, and was given a case study on sample size calculations and data cleaning scenarios. They also asked behavioral questions about handling fieldwork challenges, and managing tight research deadlines. The entire process from application to final interview took about 3 weeks, and the team was professional and communicative throughout.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you design a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a conditional cash transfer program on school attendance among adolescent girls?
I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at J-PAL
Interview
I applied for the Research Associate position at J-PAL South Asia. The entire process took about 4 weeks from application to final decision. The interviewers were very professional and friendly. They asked about my experience with data collection tools (SurveyCTO/CAPI), handling field challenges (low response rates, enumerator issues, data quality), understanding of randomized controlled trials, and why I’m interested in development economics research.