Research Assistant

Job description

Role purpose:

The purpose of this role is to support the Research team and our major Our Lives Our Journey longitudinal study. This ambitious research involves qualitative in-depth interviews with a cohort of 80 people over five years. The rich information generated by this project will increase our knowledge of disabled people’s experiences and the barriers they face.

The first year of this project has been completed and is already yielding valuable insight. This role will also involve analysis of national data sets, literature reviews, administrative support, and support on the design and implementation of Scope’s impact and evaluation. This role is an ideal starting point for anyone interested in a career in Research and Impact and will provide exposure and development opportunities across a range of projects. 

Main responsibilities and accountabilities: 

• Provide research assistance and administrative support to our longitudinal qualitative study, ‘Our lives, our Journey’, such as data and transcript management.
• Assist with the recruitment of participants for primary research.
• Deliver specialist assistive solutions training to external professionals
• Analyse national statistics to inform policy, campaigns and services teams about the context of our work, facilitating planning and evaluation.
• Work with teams to map the outcomes and impact they are working towards.
• Design research and evaluation projects, identifying measures to assess the extent to which our work is driving change.
• Assist with responding to ad-hoc research and impact requests through desk-based research or data analysis.
• Assist with the dissemination of research outputs (such as reports or presentations).
• Provide general assistance and support to the Strategy, Evidence and Impact team, as required. 

Mandatory for all staff:

• To  work seamlessly across department or team boundaries in a collaborative and constructive manner to implement Scope’s strategic direction
• To demonstrate a commitment to customer service excellence and deliver against the requirements of Scope’s quality framework.
• To work within Scope’s policies and procedures

Key contacts

Internal contacts

SEI team

SISC department

Evidence and Insight group

All Scope staff

Scope volunteers

External contacts

Research participants

Disabled People's organisations

Other charities

Other research organisations and academic institutions

Person specification

Qualifications

Social science undergraduate or masters degree, or equivalent research experience.

Essential

• Understanding of the social model of disability
• An interest in learning and working on Research and Impact projects
• An interest in disability issues and social change
• Administrative skills such as note taking

Desirable

• Lived experience of disability
• Some knowledge or experience of research, evaluation and impact approaches and techniques
• Experience of undertaking qualitative research (such as interviews and focus groups) and analysis using coding
• Experience of undertaking quantitative research, such as extracting, analysing and interpreting primary and secondary research data (such as large national datasets, survey information, etc.