Job Description
Job title:
Department/School:
Grade:
Location:
Research Assistant
Health
5
Claverton Down Campus, Bath
Job purpose
The aims of this post will be to provide research assistance for a partnership
initiative between the University of Bath, and Bath & North East Somerset
council. The project focuses on evaluating and refining the local exercise
referral service, Passport to Health (P2H) across three sites in the B&NES area
(Bath, Keynsham, and Midsomer Norton). The project is currently managed by
a post-doctoral researcher who is based part-time at the university, and parttime with the council. The role of the research assistant will be to support the
project manager in the final stages of the project, primarily in completing followup appointments with study participants to collect final measures and enter and
analyse some of the data.
We need assistance for 7.5 hours a week until the completion of the project at
the end of May 2014. However, due to the nature of the role the hours may be
spread over 1-2 days as required by the project.
Source and nature of management provided
Line manager: Fiona Gillison, Senior Lecturer, Department of Health
Day to day supervision will be also be provided by Dr Fay Beck, postdoctoral
Knowledge Transfer Fellow in the Department for Health, and Mrs Jessica
Brodrick, Bath & North East Somerset Council.
Staff management responsibility
None
Career and Professional Development Activities
To engage in knowledge transfer, and continuous professional development as
appropriate.
From time to time you may be asked to assist in the facilitation of CPD
activities. This will form part of your substantive role and you will not receive
additional payment for these activities.
Page 1
Special conditions
This is a part-time, fixed-term post for 7.5 hours per week for four months
(equivalent of 17 days). Data collection appointments are primarily arranged
between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm from Monday to Friday, but some flexibility in
working pattern will be required as it may not be possible to fit all
appointments within the same day of the week. The post will require travel
throughout the B&NES area.
Main duties and responsibilities
1 To liaise with study participants (P2H service users) and study partners
(i.e., leisure centres) to arrange and conduct data collection visits (lasting
30-60 minutes). This will include
 meeting clients at their local leisure centre or other agreed venue,
 assisting with questionnaire completion,
 initiating, issuing and explaining the use of physical activity monitors
(accelerometers)
 downloading and transforming accelerometry data for interpretation
2.
Assist with research by typically (as appropriate to discipline):
 preparing, conducting and recording the outcome of experiments
and field work;
 developing questionnaires and conducting surveys
 conducting literature and database searches
3.
Assist with the management and analysis of the existing available results
by (depending on past experience) ;
 assisting with timely data entry to complete the dataset
 conducting quantitative data analyses
 conducting literature and database searches to contribute towards
the writing of reports and papers
4.
To assist with the organisation & analysis of quarterly Customer Service
Surveys including;
 updating the design of the survey questionnaire
 collation and interpretation of responses
 compiling reports for the council
5.
To arrange & conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews with people
who have been referred to the P2H service.
6.
To assist with the production of formal study reports and publications.
You will from time to time be required to undertake other duties of a similar
nature as reasonably required by your line manager.
Page 2
Appendix B
Person Specification
Criteria
Essential
Desirable
Assessed by
A/F
I/T
R
Qualifications
BA/BSc in a social science or health
related discipline
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Experience/Knowledge
Working with people in a health setting
Knowledge of public health services &
their structure
Experience of supporting academic
research
Skills
Must be proficient in using Microsoft
Office (e.g. word, excel)
Must have experience using SPSS
Good interpersonal skills for interacting
with the participants
Attributes
Ability to interact proactively with a
range of people in academic and public
sector settings.
Access to own car for transport for data
collection purposes
x
x
x
Code: A/F – Application form, I/T – Interview/Test, R – References
Human Resources
Page 3
12/02/2016