J-PAL LAC General Research Resources

Useful General Research Resources: 

• J-PAL Researcher Database

• J-PAL Global's Internal Knowledge Base 

• J-PAL Global's Internal Research Knowledge Base 

• J-PAL LAC's Internal Research Resources Site

Joining the J-PAL LAC's Research Team's Slack Workspace

Join our Slack workspace, you need an invitation link from the workspace administrator or an existing member. You can send a message or e-mail to Diana Suarez asking for an invitation. Once you have the link, open it in a web browser. You'll be directed to a page where you can create an account or sign in if you already have one. After logging in, confirm your email address, and you'll be prompted to set up your profile. Finally, you'll gain access to the Slack workspace and can start interacting with members, channels, and messages. Be sure to add the research resources channels to your workspace. Welcome aboard!

• How to build effective implementing partner relationships

• How to formalize research partnerships and establish roles and expectations

• How to establish Data Usage Agreements DUAs

Paper Tracking is a dataset composed of all RCT studies produced in the LAC region by any members of the J-PAL network. The current base (October 2025) includes data from 68 affiliates and 85 invited researchers, from 2002 until 2025.

For more details and questions, contact: Diana Suarez

The repository of informed consents and questionnaires serves as a valuable resource, housing forms from previous studies conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It aims to streamline the development of new data collection tools, allowing researchers to build on proven methodologies rather than starting from scratch. The repository includes questionnaires used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) across various sectors, themes, and study outcomes, offering a rich foundation for future research. New staff members can use this repository to identify effective questions for measuring complex or abstract concepts, enhancing the rigor and efficiency of their studies.

• J-PAL LAC Informed Consents

• J-PAL LAC Questionnaires

• J-PAL Survey Bank: Repository of instruments used across J-PAL projects

1. Evaluación de Impacto de Programas Sociales: Este curso introduce las evaluaciones de impacto aleatorizadas como una herramienta para probar y mejorar la eficacia de programas y políticas sociales.

2. J-PAL's RCT 101X Evaluation of Social Programs is an online course, an internal training resource for staff at J-PAL and close partner organizations that should not be shared externally. For external course offerings on Evaluating Social Programs, please refer to the courses page on J-PAL's website.

2. More Advanced! J-PAL 102X Designing and Running Randomized Evaluations, is a longer, slightly more advanced version of the same course on designing and running RCTs.

3. Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) MicroMasters Program, is a joint effort between J-PAL and MIT to offer graduate-level courses that combine the modern tools of economics and policy design with a strong foundation in economic and mathematical principles. Learners to gain the skills needed to tackle poverty alleviation using evidence-based approaches.

The program consists of five online graduate-level courses created and taught by leading academics and practitioners. Each course lasts eleven weeks and offers the same rigor and learning opportunities as residential MIT courses. 

Learners who complete three core courses and two elective courses in their respective track, and pass their corresponding proctored exams, earn a DEDP MicroMasters program credential. 

Curriculum:

Core Courses:

1. Data Analysis for Social Scientists 

2. Microeconomics 

3. Designing and Running Randomized Evaluations 

International Development Electives 

• Challenges of Global Poverty (Introductory) 

• Foundations of Development Policy (Advanced)

•  Political Economy and Economic Development (Advanced) 

Public Policy Electives 

• Good Economics for Hard Times (Introductory) 

• Microeconomic Theory and Public Policy (Advanced)

4. J-PAL Research Staff Training: The objective of our research staff training is to provide new staff with the theoretical and technical foundations to design and coordinate high-quality research studies. 

The trainings are delivered in person over the course of one week, with approximately 30-40 hours of lecture, breakout, and lab activities for each training. 

• The theoretical topics include lectures on: research ethics; research design (theory of change, measurement, etc.); randomization theory; sample size and power.

• The technical topics include lectures and labs on: questionnaire design; quality control in the field for surveys; field team management; data management; programming a survey in SurveyCTO; randomization lab; power calculations; data security.

Upcoming in-person trainings:

1. North America: The North America Research Staff Training will resume in 2025 in a revised, in-person format. 

2. South Asia, Goa India: Training usually happens during August and September each year, the training fee is $2,000 for any full-time staff working with J-PAL/IPA’s network of affiliated professors and invited researchers or with partner research organizations. It is $3,000 for participants from external organizations. This cost includes: materials, accommodation and meals, local transportation, and taxes. 

Both trainings will cover much of the same content; the primary difference is the time zone in which the content will be delivered.

5. Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation: A brief, authoritative introduction to field experimentation in the social sciences, by Alan S Gerber ( Yale University), and Donald P Green (Columbia University).

6. Running Randomized Evaluations: A Practical Guide, by Rachel Glennerster (Author), Kudzai Takavarasha (Author).

7. An Introduction to the “Handbook of Field Experiments” by Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, and Esther Duflo.

8. David McKenzie's World Bank blog. 

This resource provides suggestions for preparing for a  full-time Research Assistant (RA) position in economics research, reflecting what we look for in RA candidates at J-PAL.