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Background/Organizational Context 

The Development Economics Survey Unit (DECSU) in the World Bank Group's Development Economics Vice Presidency supports the production and use of high-quality household survey data in low- and middle-income countries. Through the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) program, DECSU advances methodological innovation in household survey design, implementation, and data quality, with a focus on improving the evidence available for development policy and research. 
As part of this agenda, DECSU is implementing a randomized survey experiment in Nepal to test approaches for improving the measurement of informal and household-based businesses, whose performance is often difficult to capture because of weak record keeping, seasonality, and limited administrative data. The experiment is designed to generate evidence on how alternative survey methods can improve the measurement of business outcomes and reduce information constraints faced by informal enterprises.

Duties and Responsibilities 

  The Fellow will be part of the team supporting an ongoing randomized survey experiment in Nepal that is designed to strengthen the measurement of household business performance and test approaches to reducing information constraints faced by informal enterprises. The study follows 1,980 households in urban and rural areas through three in-person survey rounds, with households randomly assigned to three treatment arms that vary the way business outcomes are measured and reported. One arm incorporates high-frequency digital diaries to examine recall bias in performance reporting and generate richer evidence on enterprise dynamics over time. 

  The assignment will contribute to the World Bank's research agenda on improving the measurement of household business performance and understanding how information constraints affect enterprise outcomes. It will also provide the Fellow with practical experience in survey methodology, field experiment implementation, data quality monitoring, and applied quantitative research. 

The scope of work includes supporting questionnaire refinement, survey implementation, data quality monitoring, management and analysis of survey and digital diary data, construction of outcome measures, and comparison of alternative approaches to measuring household business performance. The Fellow may also contribute to research outputs and develop an independent research question using project data, in consultation with the research team.