Senior Associate, Survey Designer

Translate research questions, indicators, and MEL frameworks into survey instruments, selecting appropriate question types, response scales, and respondent-selection approaches;

Draft, review, and version questionnaires, ensuring question wording is unambiguous, non-leading, and appropriate to the literacy and cultural context of respondents;

Design skip logic, constraints, calculations, and roster or repeat structures so that each respondent receives only the relevant question path;

Manage translation and back-translation of instruments into local languages, and validate translated versions on-device before deployment;

Plan and run cognitive testing, pre-tests, and pilots, and document the revisions arising from them;

Define and document indicator-to-question mapping, codebooks, and data dictionaries so that outputs are analysis-ready;

Advise programme teams on instrument length, respondent burden, and the trade-offs between data ambition and field feasibility.

Build and maintain survey forms in XLSForm, applying relevance, constraint, calculation, and repeat expressions, external choice lists, and multi-language label columns across the survey, choices, and settings worksheets;

Configure, deploy, and version surveys in the foundation platform or in any other appropriate data collection tool, including deployment to Android devices for offline collection, GPS and farm-mapping questions, and real-time cloud synchronisation;

Administer the data collection environment: enumerator and user accounts, roles and permissions, device provisioning, form refresh and update cycles, and pre-loaded reference data such as farmer registries;

Configure data exports and dashboards so that analysis and reporting teams receive consistently structured data;

Build quality controls into instruments at the design stage: validation rules, logical consistency checks, mandatory fields, GPS capture, and timestamp or duration capture where appropriate;

Monitor incoming data during collection, running high-frequency checks for outliers, missing values, duplicates, straight-lining, and implausible enumerator productivity;

Investigate and resolve data issues with field teams, issuing correction instructions and recording resolutions in an issues log;

Maintain back-checks, spot checks, and field audits, and report quality indicators to the MEL and programme teams;

Develop enumerator manuals, question-by-question guidance, and quick-reference troubleshooting guides in the working languages of the field teams;

Plan and deliver training for data agents and supervisors on survey content, interview technique, respondent consent, device handling, and use of the survey application;

Run practice and certification exercises during training and confirm that agents meet a minimum standard before deployment;

Provide day-to-day remote and in-person support during data collection, acting as first-line help desk for survey and application issues;

Support supervisors with team monitoring routines, including review of daily submissions and feedback to individual agents;

Degree in a relevant field (e.g. statistics, economics, social sciences, agriculture, data science, or related);

3–5 years of experience designing and programming surveys for household, farmer, or programme monitoring data collection;

Demonstrated experience authoring XLSForm instruments and deploying them through ODK-based platforms (e.g. ODK, KoboToolbox, SurveyCTO);

Experience in survey research methodology: questionnaire design, sampling, question wording, measurement, and pre-testing;

Resolve digital data collection problems in offline and low-connectivity field conditions;

Practical experience designing and running data quality assurance routines, including high-frequency checks, back-checks, and data cleaning;

Experience training and supporting enumerators or field data agents, including development of training and reference materials;

Working knowledge of tools for data checks and reporting (e.g. Excel, Stata, R, Python, or Power BI);

Professional proficiency in French and English;

Ability to travel 30% per year, including regular travel to field sites in cocoa-growing regions.